Simplifying Your Worldview With Toki Pona
A language that will put you in a good mood
Toki! According to different sources, reaching fluency in English requires knowing around 5000 words, yet the language itself contains around 170,000 words. Our vocabulary seems to be quite specific, isn’t it?
On the other hand, we have Toki Pona — a language constructed by Sonja Lang, with a little over 100 words. So how can a language with a thousand times smaller dictionary than English, “simplify the meaning of life”?
It forces you to break down common concepts
This is what sold me.
Due to its limited vocabulary, Toki Pona has words with very broad and general meanings. It makes the speaker think about the words and break them down, so the other person can understand the message.
Let’s look at the example of an interview in Toki Pona that was almost literally translated into English. Try to guess what is it about:
Directing man: Different land coming land is big thing. Which is your way?
Tana Tan: Many I built front building and good the ways about different land coming land
Directing man: You want to do what, going to the future of Mewika land?
Tana Tan: My want is this: I good again Mewika land
Did you get what this conversation was about?
Even though Toki Pona does not have a broad selection of words, you can still get the desired message ahead. It forces you to break everything down and that’s the beauty of it.
Immigration — different land coming land
Problem — big thing
This language forces us to constantly explain things, making us better at understanding the words we use.
It is very easy to get the hang of
This language is the most accessible in the world.
- It has only 9 consonants and 5 vowels
- It takes words from various language groups
- It does not have hard-to-pronounce sounds
- It is highly contextual
- You can express yourself well with a little word bank
All that makes it easy to be able to hold an in-depth conversation within a few days. Sonja Lang focused on ensuring that learners from different language backgrounds could learn it easily.
It’s all about getting the benefits of speaking as soon as possible!
It is inherently good
Toki Pona is meant to be used for spreading some good words and keeping the noise of your thoughts away. Also, it is hard to be mean in this language, as its construction makes it emotionless. But seriously, why would anyone learn “the language of good” to get frustrated?
Toki Pona has an active community (like on Discord) where the language is used. See for yourself how friendly these people are!
Great introduction to foreign languages
Toki Pona is a great first foreign language. Learning it, you will get a feel for parts of other languages. These include Tok Pisin, Finnish, Georgian, Dutch, French, Esperanto, Chinese, and Serbo-Croatian languages. As a Finnish learner, I was surprised about how much Toki Pona I already knew!
Conclusion
The language we use directly affects our lives. It is proven (like in this study about color perception). So why wouldn’t you learn the language of good? Let’s rediscover our vocabulary, compose our thoughts, and simplify the world together!
Start by creating your own Toki Pona name from these letters:
p, t, k, s, m, n, l, j, w
a, e, i, o, u
For reference, my real name is Damian, so I chose “Taman” to be my Toki Pona name. It is good to make your name simple, just like the language.
Note: the letter “j” is pronounced like the English “y”.
Tawa pona!
