How fast can you learn Toki Pona?

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Due to its small size, there are many bold claims about how fast Toki Pona can be learned,[1][2][3] despite a lack of nonanecdotal evidence.[4] This has given many learners unrealistic expectations for how quickly and easily they can do so.

In reality, learning any language takes time and practice to adjust to a new way of speaking and listening, with different boundaries for its sounds and definitions, and a different grammar. Toki Pona is no different, and comes with specific difficulties for English speakers, such as learning where to use particles.

Once everything aligns, reaching proficiency might take a few months, and fluency can take longer,[citation needed] but this depends on a variety of factors and will not be true in every case. To avoid the Dunning–Kruger effect, many proficient speakers are uncomfortable making claims about their or others' fluency until a significant amount of time, such as 6 months,[5] has passed. (This may apply to articles that claim that Toki Pona can be learned quickly, with authors having overestimated their ability.)

Claims[edit | edit source]

30 hours[edit | edit source]

One common but misleading assertion is that Toki Pona takes 30 hours to learn. This warped from one person claiming basic skills from roughly an hour of daily study for a month, to wild promises of mastery within two days of cramming.[4]

According to jan Kekan San's investigation,[4] the source of the figure is a 2011 Toki Pona Forums thread started by jan Mato. One user, aikidave, recalled studying for an average of 45 minutes per day over about 40 days, and mentioned still having trouble with comprehension afterward.[6] jan Mato simplified aikidave's account to an unasterisked "30 hours of study" and reasserted it a few times that year.[7][8][9]

In July 2015, The Atlantic claimed that "a general consensus among Toki Pona speakers is that it takes about 30 hours to master", but did not cite any source, nor clarify the units as hours of study.[1] This claim spread to other publications,[10][11] with at least one misattributing[4] it directly to Sonja Lang.[12]

20 minutes a day over 30 days[edit | edit source]

In response to the 30-hour claim, and based on the results of over a dozen learners who used the o pilin e toki pona course,[13] jan Kekan San suggested an alternative benchmark of 20 minutes a day over 30 days to become conversational in Toki Pona. This is about 10 cumulative hours of spaced practice.[4]

By jan Kekan San's admission, o pilin e toki pona is the only source of evidence for this figure. It also only applies to the comprehensible input method, making no claims about the effectiveness of other learning methods.[4]

Advice[edit | edit source]

Essay: This is an essay. It may argue a specific position or include original research.

Keep your expectations in check, and don't beat yourself up if you think you aren't learning quickly enough. While it is good to set goals, putting too much pressure on yourself may, in fact, make it more difficult to learn. Know that some speakers who are fluent today struggled to learn Toki Pona for months or years, and even gave up on it for a time.

lipamanka has encouraged questioning the motives behind wanting to learn Toki Pona quickly:[5]

If you want to learn toki pona because you think it’ll be faster than other languages, there may be some truth to that, but think about what you want to get out of learning a language. Community? Philosophy? A new outlook on life? To prove a point? To know what it’s like? Because the language you want to learn was taken from you generations ago? Because the language seems interesting?

If you aren't making progress, you should try changing your approach and exploring other kinds of resources and tools. You may find something that finally clicks with you in an unexpected place. It is also fine to take a break if that's what you need to reduce frustration. You aren't obliged to treat whatever claim you heard as a time limit. If you really want to learn Toki Pona, there is no expiration date for your attempt.

You will most likely learn faster by practicing with other speakers, as they can use their own experience to catch mistakes, answer questions, and set you on the right path, and you will end up encountering much more of the language in use than from prefabricated example sentences. See Teaching for the perspective that other speakers should be helping you from.

See also[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Morin, Roc. (15 July 2015). "How to Say (Almost) Everything in a Hundred-Word Language". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 3 August 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
  2. ↑ Engelhardt, Joseph. (15 August 2016). "A 123-Word Language That Can Be Learned In Under A Week". Odyssey. Odyssey Media Group, Inc.. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  3. ↑ Denby, Sam. (15 December 2022). "Toki Pona: The Language You Can Learn in a Day". Half as Interesting [@halfasinteresting]. YouTube. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 jan Kekan San. "How long does it take to learn Toki Pona?". mun.la. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 lipamanka. "Frequently Asked Questions and Misconceptions". lipamanka.gay. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  6. ↑ [janMato, aikidave, et al.]. (12 January 2011). "How many hours to learn toki pona?". Toki Pona Forums. Retrieved 30 August 2024.

    aikidave

    Looking back on my notes, it took me about 40 days to memorize all the words and make my way through jan Pie's[recte jan Pije's]Any mistakes near this tag have been reproduced verbatim from the source. lessons, repeating them as necessary, until I understood them. I spent on average, about 45 minutes per day studying toki pona, so that means it took me about 30 hours to 'learn' toki pona. (I was never any good at learning languages!)
    I could write basic sentences at that point but the hardest thing for me, is reading and understanding toki pona text.

  7. ↑ jan Mato [janMato]. (21 April 2011). "Re: suna pona tawa ale". Toki Pona Forums. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
  8. ↑ jan Mato [janMato]. (23 June 2011). "Re: To get an account". Toki Pona Forums. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
  9. ↑ jan Mato [janMato]. (20 September 2011). "Re: Little critics about Toki Pona". Toki Pona Forums. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
  10. ↑ Zaltzman, Helen. (19 November 2015). "Allusionist 25: Toki Pona - transcript". The Allusionist. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
  11. ↑ Panganiban, Roma. (12 September 2021). "In A Language With Only 123 Words, Less Is More". Mental Floss. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
  12. ↑ Das, Raj. (25 February 2016). "Toki Pona, The World’s Smallest Language, Has Just 123 Words". ScoopWhoop. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
  13. ↑ jan Telakoman [@jantelakoman]. "Chats with 30-Day Comprehensible Input Challenge Champions Podcast". YouTube. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
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