Dialogue 1
| A: Hi! | coi | |
| B: Hi, Lojban-student! | .i coi lojbo tadni | {coi} is a cmavo of COI group and allows a name or a selbri after it. If it is a selbri, like in this case, then it is treated like {lo} plus that selbri. In our case, greeted is {lo lojbo tadni}, i. e. a Lojbanic student. While this could also mean that the student just applies some Lojbanic methods for studying, from the context it is clear that the person studies Lojban. More correct would have been {tadni be la lojban.}, but everyday language prefers shorter ways. |
| A: How did you know I am a Lojban student? | .i do facki lo du'u mi tadni la lojban. kei ta'i ma | Please pay attention to this. A literal translation of this to Lojban will be semantically incorrect. If you translate as {do djuno ... ta'i ma}, that question will mean "by which method do you know ...?" - a natural answer to which would be "By the method of using my brain". Remember, in Lojban you translate not the words, but the meaning. |
| B: You greeted me in Lojban ;) | .i do rinsa mi bau la lojban. zo'o | A valid alternative to {zo'o} (humour) could be {.u'i} (amusement). |
| A: Yeah. | .i go'i | {go'i} doesn't mean actually "Yes". As you know, it repeats the meaning of the previous bridi, so by saying {go'i} the speaker is showing his agreement. |
| B: What country are you from? | .i ma gugde do | Actually {gugde} requires the name of a nation as its second sumti, but common usage is to insert a single dweller there. |
| A: I am from Canada. | .i la kanadas. | B just specifies the value of {ma}. |
| B: I see. I am from Germany. | .i je'e .i mi se gugde lo dotco | If you don't want to start a new sentence, you can use {do'u} right after {je'e} to close it off. |
| A: I like German beer. | .i mi nelci lo dotco birje | |
| B: I don't drink beer. | .i mi na pinxe lo birje | |
| A: You don't drink alcohol beverage at all? | .i do ro xu xalka naku pinxe | The yes/no modifier {xu} is attached here after {ro}, with the literal meaning of "you don't drink all -yes/no- alcohol?" |
| B: No. Only beer, I don't like its taste. | .i lo birje po'o .i mi na nelci le vrusi | |
| A: So, you like wine? | .i do nelci lo vanju xu | |
| B: Very much. | .i mutce go'i | In this case, {mutce} gets into the previous bridi, referred to by {go'i}, and modifies its selbri. The result is the same as {mi mutce nelci lo vanju}. |
| A: My wife likes wine, too. | .i si'a lo speni be mi cu go'i | |
| B: Glad to hear it. | .i .ui | |
| A: I miss my wife greatly. | .i mi mutce caucni lo speni be mi | {.au} or other attitudinals can be inserted to clarify the emotion. |
| B: What's happened? | .i pu mo | |
| A: I am on a mission in another city, and will see her only in two weeks. | mi ca klama lo lijda klama ne'i lo tcadu drata ti tcadu .ije lenu mi ba viska ra cu fasnu li re sejeftu | {ra} is a very fuzzy referance to a previous sumti, but in this case context makes the referant fairly obvious. |
| B: Oh. | .i .uu | Or possibly {.ue .uu}. |
| A: My wife is very beautiful. | .i lo speni be mi cu mutce melbi | Since we already know who {lo speni be mi} is, {le speni} may just as well be used. |
| B: Glad to hear it. | .i .ui | |
| A: She has long hair. | .i lo clani cu kerfa sy. | |
| B: I prefer women with short hair. | mi zmadu nelci lo ninmu pe lo tordu kerfa | |
| A: I find nothing attractive in women with short hair. | mi no'e setrina lo ninmu pe lo tordu kerfa | |
| B: Short hair is very exciting. | lo tordu kerfa cu traji loni nelci | |
| A: Maybe. | .ie.iacu'i | Agreement + skepticism |
| B: I oughta go. Bye! | mi bilga lenu mi klama co'o | {klama} could be replaced by {cliva} if you wanted to stress the leaving vs. going somewhere else. |
| A: Bye! | co'o |
Dialogue 2
| A: Hi, Alex! | coi .aleks. | |
| B: Hi, Jane! | coi .djein. | Please note the period in front of the {djein}, which is required here. |
| I see you have a new coiffure. | ||
| A: Why, no! It is two weeks old already. | ||
| Didn't you see it before? | ||
| B: Really? I must have been very busy those days. | ||
| A: Don't worry. | ||
| Do you know that Kate has quit? | ||
| B: What?! | ||
| A: Yeah, she quit yesterday. | ||
| She had won in a lottery. | ||
| B: Very much? | ||
| A: I don't know. But she looked very happy. | ||
| B: No, I can't believe. There must have been another reason. | ||
| Although she won't say. | ||
| A: I think so, too. | ||
| She was always very secretive. | ||
| B: It is not good. People quit from here. | ||
| First Jack, then Judith in March, now Kate... | ||
| A: You know *who* is responsible for that. | ||
| B: I? No! | ||
| A: You do. | ||
| B: No! Why do you think I know? | ||
to be continued
A list of dubious places in the translation (and also suggestions) are available here.