English and Esperanto

Esperantistoj, b.v. vidu Peto al esperantistoj.

Intros to Esperanto

Perhaps http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Rules_of_Esperanto_grammar (or http://donh.best.vwh.net/Esperanto/rules.html) is a good overview.

And the affixes: http://esperanto.davidgsimpson.com/eo-affixes.html (short) http://steve-and-pattie.com/esperantujo/grparafx.html (longer)

Tenses are exlained in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto_grammar#Verbs

Wordlists

http://freepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wakefield/translations/engesp.html

http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/download.sourceforge.net/pub/sourceforge/d/dm/dmdictionary/EngEsp.txt

Transfer rules English->Esperanto

en pattern	eo pattern	en	eo	status
adj	adj.sg.nom	aggressive	agresema	OK
adj.pos	adj.sg.nom	his	lia	OK
adj.sint	adj.sg.nom	big	granda	OK
adj.sint.comp	preadv. granda.adj.sg.nom	bigger	pli granda	OK
adj.sint.sup	preadv. granda.adj.sg.nom	biggest	plej granda	OK
adv	adv	after	poste	OK
adv.itg	adv.itg	how	kiel	OK
cnjadv	cnjadv	after	post kiam	OK
cnjcoo	cnjcoo	and	kaj	OK
cnjsub	cnjsub	that	ke	OK
det.def.pl	det.def.pl.nom	the	la	OK
det.def.sg	det.def.sg.nom	the	la	OK
det.def.sp	det.def.sp.nom	the	la	OK
det.dem.pl	det.dem.pl.nom	these	ĉi tiuj	OK
det.dem.sg	det.dem.sg.nom	this	ĉi tiu	OK
det.ind.pl	det.ind.pl.nom	both	ambaŭj	OK
det.ind.sg	det.ind.sg.nom	another	alia	OK
det.ind.sp	det.ind.sp.nom	any	ajna	OK
det.qnt.pl	det.qnt.pl.nom	few	malmultaj	OK
det.qnt.sg	det.qnt.sg.nom	less	la malpli da	OK
det.qnt.sp	det.qnt.sp.nom	enough	sufiĉe da	OK
ij	ij	goodbye	adiaŭ	OK
n.acr.sg	n.sg.nom	TV	televido	OK
np.al.sg	np.al.sg.nom	GCompris	GCompris	OK
np.ant.f.sg	np.ant.f.sg.nom	April	April	OK
np.ant.m.sg	np.ant.m.sg.nom	Robert	Robert	OK
np.cog.pl	np.cog.pl.nom	Stevensons	Stevenson(oj?)	?
np.cog.sg	np.cog.sg.nom	Stevenson	Stevenson	OK
n.sg	n.sg.nom	hundred	cento	OK
n.pl	n.pl.nom	hundreds	centoj	OK
np.top.sg	np.top.sg.nom	Afghanistan	Afganio	OK
num.sg	num.sg	one	unu	OK
num.sp	num.sp	hundred	cent	OK
pr	pr	after	post	OK
preadv	preadv	any	tre	OK
predet.sp	sp	all	#\<sp\>	OK
prn.itg.sp	prn.itg.sg.nom	what	kio	OK
prn.obj.p1.mf.pl	prn.obj.p1.mf.pl	us	nin	OK
prn.obj.p1.mf.sg	prn.obj.p1.mf.sg	me	min	OK
prn.obj.p2.mf.sp	prn.obj.p2.mf.sp	you	vin	OK
prn.obj.p3.f.sg	prn.obj.p3.f.sg	her	ŝin	OK
prn.obj.p3.mf.pl	prn.obj.p3.mf.pl	them	ilin	OK
prn.obj.p3.m.sg	prn.obj.p3.m.sg	him	lin	OK
prn.obj.p3.nt.sg	prn.obj.p3.nt.sg	it	ĝin	OK
prn.ref.p1.mf.pl	prn.ref.p1.mf.pl	ourselves	#ni	OK
prn.ref.p1.mf.sg	prn.ref.p1.mf.sg	myself	#mi	OK
prn.ref.p2.mf.pl	prn.ref.p2.mf.pl	yourselves	#vi	OK
prn.ref.p2.mf.sg	prn.ref.p2.mf.sg	yourself	#vi	OK
prn.ref.p3.f.sg	prn.ref.p3.f.sg	herself	#si	OK
prn.ref.p3.mf.pl	prn.ref.p3.mf.pl	themselves	#si	OK
prn.ref.p3.m.sg	prn.ref.p3.m.sg	himself	#si	OK
prn.ref.p3.nt.sg	prn.ref.p3.nt.sg	itself	#si	OK
prn.subj.p1.mf.pl	prn.subj.p1.mf.pl	we	ni	OK
prn.subj.p1.mf.sg	prn.subj.p1.mf.sg	I	mi	OK
prn.subj.p2.mf.sp	prn.subj.p2.mf.sp	you	vi	OK
prn.subj.p3.f.sg	prn.subj.p3.f.sg	she	ŝi	OK
prn.subj.p3.mf.pl	prn.subj.p3.mf.pl	they	ili	OK
prn.subj.p3.m.sg	prn.subj.p3.m.sg	he	li	OK
prn.subj.p3.nt.sg	prn.subj.p3.nt.sg	it	ĝi	OK
prn.tn.pl	prn.tn.pl.nom	both	ambaŭ	OK
prn.tn.sg	prn.tn.sg.nom	another	alia	OK
prn.tn.sp	prn.tn.sg.nom	all	ĉiu	OK
rel.adv	rel.adv	where	kie	OK
rel.an.mf.sp	rel.an.mf.sp	which	#\<rel\>	OK
vaux.inf	vaux.inf	will	#\<vaux\>	OK
vaux.past	vaux.past	could	povis	OK
vaux.pres	vaux.pres	can	povas	OK
vbdo.past	vblex.past	did	faris	OK
vbdo.pres	vblex.pres	do	faras	OK
vbdo.pres.p3.sg	vblex.pres	does	faras	OK
vbhaver.ger	vblex.ger	having	havanta	OK
vbhaver.inf	vblex.inf	have	havi	OK
vbhaver.past	vblex.past	had	havis	OK
vbhaver.pres	vblex.pres	have	havas	OK
vbhaver.pres.p3.sg	vblex.pres	has	havas	OK
vblex.ger	vblex.ger	advertising	anoncanta	OK
vblex.imp	vblex.imp	affect	afekciu	OK
vblex.inf	vblex.inf	advertise	anonci	OK
vblex.past	vblex.past	advertised	anoncis	OK
vblex.pp	vblex.pp	advertised	anoncita	OK
vblex.pres	vblex.pres	advertise	anoncas	OK
vblex.pres.p3.sg	vblex.pres	advertises	anoncas	OK
vbser.ger	vbser.ger	being	estanta	OK
vbser.inf	vbser.inf	be	esti	OK
vbser.past	vbser.past	were	estis	OK
vbser.past.p1.sg	vbser.past	was	estis	OK
vbser.past.p3.sg	vbser.past	was	estis	OK
vbser.pp	vbser.pp	been	estita	OK
vbser.pres	vbser.pres	are	estas	OK
vbser.pres.p1.sg	vbser.pres	am	estas	OK
vbser.pres.p3.sg	vbser.pres	is	estas	OK

Test set

<jacobn> Jim, Fran: I just looked at http://www.link.cs.cmu.edu/link/batch.html  and to me is looks like that "carefully selected text" I was talking about a week ago which would be needed to define the most important features to get covered.
<jimregan2> Jacob, it's ok
<jimregan2> we already have carefully selected text for English :)
<jimregan2> ALL + plural
<jimregan2> ALL + adj + plural
<jacobn> what do you think, is http://www.link.cs.cmu.edu/link/batch.html + their translations to Esperanto suitable as test set?
<jimregan2> as one test set, yes
<jimregan2> I have another few, and I promise I'll get to them on Wednesday
<jacobn> Jim, I would like to include a " carefully selected text for English" in the en-eo test set. Do you have a better suggestion than http://www.link.cs.cmu.edu/link/batch.html ?
<jacobn> Fine
<jimregan2> heck - I'll even set a reminder :)
<jacobn> no hast necessary
<jimregan2> newspaper - type text is best
<jimregan2> I'll grab a few chunks from different books at project gutenberg

<jimregan2> oh, you know about the '*' in the sentences, right?
<jacobn> the * ??
<jacobn> no, never met it
<jacobn> ;-)
<jimregan2> at the start of a lot of the sentences, there's a '*'
<jacobn> Oh that
<jacobn> yes, Ive read it
<jimregan2> that's a standard convention in linguistics to say 'this sentence is incorrect'
<jacobn> I would start with the non-* sentences
<jimregan2> just dump anything with '*'
<jimregan2> they're not worth any effort

Tagging errors

(10:19:15) jacob: en-eo	  You can save multiple configurations, and switch between them easily. 
	- Vi povas sekurigi multajn agordojn, kaj ŝalti inter ili facile. 
	+ Vi povas savi *multiple agordoj, kaj ŝanĝo inter ilin facile.
(10:20:00) jacob: Why is "switch" in "switch between them" considered a noun?
(10:20:16) jacob: (ŝanĝo)
(10:20:19) francis: did you put it in the testing interface ?
(10:20:42) francis: the sentence
(10:20:47) francis: ^and/and<cnjcoo>$ ^switch/switch<n><sg>/switch<vblex><inf>/switch<vblex><pres>$ ^between/between<pr>$
(10:20:48) francis:  
(10:20:54) francis: ^and<cnjcoo>$ ^switch<n><sg>$ ^between<pr>$
(10:20:54) francis:  
(10:21:04) francis: the options for "switch" are noun, verb 
(10:21:07) francis: it chooses noun
(10:21:13) francis: the tagger works on a statistical basis
(10:22:55) jacob: But "easily" can only be there if "switch" is a verb.
(10:23:34) jacob: "There is a switch between them"  (noun)
(10:23:51) jacob: "switch between them" (noun or verb)
(10:24:11) jacob "switch between them easily" (can only be verb)

"switch between them easily" (can only be verb) - not true. 'You can put a switch between them easily' -- Jimregan 18:34, 15 September 2008 (UTC)

A note about accusative

The next kind of thing we should think about is the type of sentence part that goes like this:

'the man you saw' 'the man the girl saw'

I don't know if we have to change word order here - probably not - but the nominative and accusative are SNs 2 and 1 respectively.

But think about this:

'the man my brother became'

Adding accusative here is wrong, so what can we do about it? Not much. Maybe in this specific instance, sure, but generally, we can only take the common cases and hope for the best. There's been plenty of work into statistical parsing, subject identification, etc., but it's still not much better than picking the common cases, and hoping for the best.

This is why we always tell people to have their translations checked by a native speaker :)

Jacob TODO

<jacobn> Ok, Ill try the web doc translator more, find the systematics, report a bug and attach files etc.

See also

• English and Esperanto/Regression tests