Books for Beginners and Post-Beginners

We're putting together bookstore recommendations for people new to Esperanto or people looking for more reading material.

Recommendations for beginners: http://esperanto-usa.org/en/node/1510

Recommendations for post-beginners: http://esperanto-usa.org/en/node/1511

What do you think of the current suggestions?

What else would you recommend for English-language beginners and post-beginners? Would it be useful to list some well-known translations, like "La Hobito" and "La Eta Princo?" These books are in more difficult Esperanto, but because they're so familiar in English, they might be good choices for post-beginners.

What could we choose for non-fiction and non-Movado books?

What books were most useful to you in your beginner and post-beginner stages?

After the Richardson book, I read (in this wacky order) "Saltego Trans Jarmiloj", then "Kompreno" (by Neves, which I still don't entirely understand!), then "Gerda Malaperis", "La Granda Aventuro," and "La Mastro de l' Ringoj." I wouldn't recommend the same order to another beginner!

by Tim Westover

Tim Westover's blog
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Comments

Esperanto

Hi There!
I read about esperanto several times in my life and now that I'm living in a country with a very dificult language to lear I'm wondering why Esperanto is not more wide spread...
My case is inside of the European Union where every country have a language and not everyone speaks English... A solution like this would be very helpful...
I would be really useful to have esperanto published on social networks and even in on free translator engines... Google Translator is a really useful piece of software that should include esperanto not only to help in translation/learning but to publish the language. There's lot of people around that don't even know that an international language exist!
Well... don't know if I can help or not but I think it can be a good idea.
Thanks!

Gus

January 21, 2010 by Gus2010, 8 weeks 2 days ago

I would like to add

I would like to add "Beginner's Esperanto (Hippocrene Beginner's)" to the beginner's collection. This is very easy to read and vocabulary is clearly interjected which helps to remember it easily. There are also questions as the each sections ends on whatever you have learned. It's really amazing at how you build up a good vocabulary base so quickly.

December 4, 2009 by stephen, 15 weeks 1 day ago

"Beginner's Esperanto"

This is a book I usually don't recommend, The book is attractive and structured in a more modern way than many Esperanto texts. But unfortunately the author incorporated a fair number of errors (probably accidentally), and also included some idiosyncratic usages that don't represent normal Esperanto. For example, instead of teaching the normal "Kiel vi fartas?" he uses "Kiel vi statas?" (I assume because of concern about the root "fart-"). That is possible in Esperanto, but it's absolutely not a normal expression. And I believe instead of the normal word "rideti" ("smile") he introduces the unknown word "smili".

Somewhere I have a rather long list of all the problems in the book, but I'm not home right now to put my hands on it. Just giving a "heads up" that if you use it, use it with some caution.

Also, as far as I know this book is now out of print, so may be a little hard to find.

December 4, 2009 by Lee Miller, 15 weeks 1 day ago

"Pasxoj al plena posedo" by

"Pasxoj al plena posedo" by William AULD had the some of the best reading material of any beginner-friendly book I have read. It was also previously recommended in the "How can I learn the language?" section of Esperanto-USA's Frequently Asked Questions page.

August 29, 2009 by Trevor Davis, 29 weeks 16 hours ago

Nudpieda Gen

The first full-length book I read in Esperanto was Nudpieda Gen. The pictures really help understand the text, and it's quite a moving and historically interesting story.

Paul Gubbins' learning book Kunvojaĝu might be worth recommending (whether for beginners or post-beginners, I'm not sure).

For serious post-beginners (I'm not sure just how "post" you're aiming for), PMEG is indispensable for those who prefer paper to reading on the computer.

July 19, 2009 by russ, 34 weeks 6 days ago

I'm a beginner, and I just

I'm a beginner, and I just bought the English-Esperanto dictionary. It's really good, with a nice intro, but I was disappointed because I thought it translated both ways...Eng-Esp and Esp-Eng. I'm still glad I bought it, but I would have chosen different books to buy at the same time to accompany it if I had realized this. Perhaps this could be mentioned in the book description at the site?

I also bought Step by Step. I'd made my purchase before I saw this article, so now I'm curious, especailly because of all the comments!

You have "Karlo" listed for "post beginner"... I'm not sure what that means. Is "Karlo" tied into Esperanto culture?

July 14, 2009 by ganymeder, 35 weeks 4 days ago

Actually, as far as I know,

Actually, as far as I know, 'Karlo' is the name of person. In English it will be 'Charles'. So it's not tied into Esperanto culture. However, I'm a beginner too, so maybe I wrong too.

November 25, 2009 by abshandra, 16 weeks 3 days ago

Interesting

Hm.. interesting indeed.

January 6, 2010 by jimmy123, 10 weeks 3 days ago

"Karlo"

Yes, "Karlo" is indeed the Esperanto form of the name "Charles". It's also the name of a short book written by Edmond Privat, the story of a boy named Karlo as he grows into adulthood. It's one of the classic stories in Esperanto, by a classic author, but it's also quite old-fashioned to modern readers (at least IMHO).

The fact that Privat is the author is the main link to Esperanto culture.

The book is still available (and very cheap), and for anyone who is interested in the history of this kind of literature in Esperanto it's worth taking a look at.

Lee

November 26, 2009 by Lee Miller, 16 weeks 2 days ago

"La Hobito" was the first

"La Hobito" was the first novel-length thing I read in Esperanto. I didn't find the language too difficult (easier, in my opinion, than "Vivo de Zamenhof," but I might just be weird), so I think it would be a good thing to include on the post-beginner list.

(I've never finished Gerda Malaperis. I've started it a couple of times, but somehow it just doesn't hold my attention)

July 11, 2009 by marianas, 36 weeks 12 hours ago

Books for Beginners and Post Beginners

I think the first book I read was Gerda Malaperis. After that I followed a random, shotgun approach. I'm glad to see you have Karlo on the list. Another one I'd recommend is Samideanoj, which is a collection of essays and stories. Most people will find something they like in there, if they don't like everything. Vojaĝo en Esperanto-Lando, something of a bestseller in the Esperanto community, is an even bigger mix of material that touches on many aspects and writers of Esperanto culture. Since I didn't know anything about Esperanto literature at the start, I found myself reading a lot of book reviews on line (and learning more Esperanto) to get an idea what was out there. At this point, you should probably just follow your interests. If you like science fiction, the Sferoj books of stories offer a wide variety by a world-wide variety of writers, many of whom are not available in English, as far as I know. If, like me, you like action-packed espionage adventure stuff, you might check out Istvan Nemere, who is prolific and writes in a straight-forward, easily understandable style. La Vidvino kaj La Profesoro by Ronald Cecil Gates is pretty good, and written in an easy style. Of course, a really good way to learn Esperanto is to go to group meetings as often as you can, and speak it as much as you can.

Scott Page

July 10, 2009 by swpage24, 36 weeks 1 day ago

Book recommendations

For beginners, I hesitate to recommend "Step by Step" for two primary reasons. First, the style is difficult: very densely written, highly dependent on different typefaces, and somewhat difficult to sort through to find specific information.

Second, Butler pervasively used jokes that mildly insult women, Scots, Africans, domestic servants, and other groups. Nothing is outrageous, but even I (middle-aged white-guy non-Scot non-African non-servant) feel some offense when I read them. Supposedly in his era the style was more or less normal, or at least tolerated, but not now.

One of my dreams would be to re-work this book to de-anglicize it a bit, clean up the visual density, but primarily take out the unacceptable jokes. (Many of his jokes are OK and are actually funny). It is a tremendous source of good grammatical information, clarifications, and examples.

For beginners, many of the books by Sten Johansson would be good to list.

For post-beginners, I'm not sure "Traduku" belongs in the list. It's a book for experienced Esperanto-speakers who are interested in style and nuances of language. I think recommending to post-beginners is a bit misleading.

July 10, 2009 by Lee Miller, 36 weeks 1 day ago

Simply stilted

My biggest hangup with Step by Step… was simply the stilted style. As someone with a learning disability (ADHD = Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder), I prefer having things laid out in an order that is logical, inviting, and encouraging. The Butler book is simply too cluttered for me to sort out. And did I really need the poems that sometimes pop up in the footnotes?

I see that a new home learning course has been added to the E–USA libroservo; it works with the Jen nia mondo Level 1 Books and CDs. I'm still undecided on whether or not I am ready to work with a long–distance tutor this way (what I really need is contact with gesamideanoj in the New York metropolitan area), but I might consider Jen nia mondo in the coming weeks, when the libroservo reopens in August. I can certainly work online with Lernu! in the meantime.

July 13, 2009 by Philip David Morgan, 35 weeks 6 days ago

insults

But at least Butler mildly insults everybody, unlike today's world in which one isn't allowed to insult anybody except middle-aged white-guy non-Scot non-African non-servants like us!

(You didn't mention it, but... did you notice that he insults men too?)

To quote myself from a few years ago...

Being the nonpoliticallycorrect and contrary kind of guy I am, I purchased Montagu BUTLER's book *because* of the bad things I had read about it on an Esperanto mailing list, so that I could see for myself. And ya know what? I enjoyed it immensely! Lots of good jokes and clever riddles and Esperantaj vortludoj and clever footnotes, and little brainteasers that I shared with my children (translated, though, because they don't know Esperanto yet). There's very little sexism or racism in it; by the time I was halfway through the book, I realized that the few examples cited on that list were pretty much the extent of that problem. Probably the most grating part for the politically correct is his hilarious refusal (in the preface) to bowdlerize the text as some had suggested. Just wanted to add my two cents in defense of a good book.

Of course, since so many people today are offended by such jokes (unless they're aimed at middle-aged white-guy non-Scot non-African non-servants!), you're probably right about recommendation.

July 11, 2009 by Ailanto, 36 weeks 11 hours ago

Konsentite

Komprenu, ke mi tre ŝatas la Butler-libron, kaj ofte konsultas ĝin por gramatikaj informoj (kaj ekzemploj). Mi nur hezitas rekomendi ĝin pro tio ke homoj povus ofendiĝi. Se oni bone konscias pri la epoko en kiu Butler verkis ĝin, estas pli facile akcepti kaj plejparte ignori la kontraŭ-grupajn ŝercojn.

Oni simple ne vidus ion tian (mi esperas) en pli moderna lernolibro.

Kaj laŭ mia taksado, en la libro estas pli ol manpleno de tiaj ŝercoj—ili okazas ĉie, en preskaŭ ĉiu ekzemplaro.

Se ni nur posedus la tekston en elektronika formo, estus simple elsarki kelkajn ofendajn ekzemplojn—la libro kiu restus estus egale valora.