Interlingue/Lesson One

Pronunciation Hodie it es quin annus desde que Occidental aparit ante li munde interlinguistic in li nov jurnal 'Cosmoglotta'. Ne existet ni grammatica, ni claves, ni vocabulariums … necos! Try to pronounce the above paragraph: By means of English pronunciation. 'Hoadee it ez kwihn anyuhs deezd quah...' By means of English consonantal pronunciation, but with continental vowels. ah, eh, ee, oh, oo for a, e, i, o, u. With continental pronunciation overall. c is softened to 'ts' before e, i, y. In the same locations, t to 'ts', and g to 'zh' (that being always the sound of j). In some obvious cases, like que, reduce qu from the sound 'kw' to that of 'k' alone. With complete regularity of pronunciation. Note now stress - it should typically be on the second-last syllable of the word (the 'penult'). E támen omni interessates ha tre bon comprendet omnicos. 4b. Note now the accent mark - these are either used to show accentuation or to mark a distinction between two short words, one unstressed and one stressed - much like Spanish.