A brief introduction
In this section, we have a small slide show that exposes only the most basic concepts, for more detailed information, please see the Introduction from the Complete Grammar whose download link can be found in the “Learn” section below.
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Auxiliary languages
There is a class of languages called “auxiliary language”, whose purpose is to allow a communication between people from different nations who do not share the same language. National languages such as Standard Arabic, Standard Chinese, French, Portuguese and English have had or still have this function.
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Constructed languages
Within this same category, there are the constructed languages, which were created by a person or a group to facilitate international communication. Because they were built, they have the advantage of not having a series of vices like the national languages do. Examples of these languages: Esperanto, Volapük, Interlingua and... Sambahsa!
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Sambahsa takes a slightly different approach. While the other constructed languages base their vocabulary on a handful of languages, the vocabulary of Sambahsa is primarily based on Proto-European, a hypothetical ancestral language that gave rise to languages such as Portuguese, English, Russian and Hindi, but Sambahsa also has contributions from Arabic, Chinese and other language families.
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Other point that make Sambahsa stand out among other constructed languages is its naturalistic approach, the one who studies Sambahsa has the feeling that he or she is studying a national language like any other, but without all those obscure exceptions that make learning difficult.
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Sambahsa goes against what is expected of a constructed auxiliary language: it has complete verb conjugations, explicit grammatical cases, spelling similar to that of a national language, and rich pronunciation and rich vocabulary. We do not hide the fact that Sambahsa is a little more challenging, but it is an easy language, if you are able to learn Esperanto in 4 months, then you are able to learn Sambahsa in 5 or 6 months.
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Let's see how the language is compared to others through an excerpt from “The Lord's Prayer”:
| English |
Sambahsa |
Esperanto |
Interlingua |
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done.
on earth, as it is in heaven.
|
Pater noster in warwn
Saint estu tieno nam
Gwehmtu tien rig
Kwohrt bihtu tien vol
Tem dighomi quem in warwn
|
Patro nia, Kiu estas en la ĉielo,
sanktigata estu Via nomo.
Venu Via regno,
fariĝu Via volo,
kiel en la ĉielo tiel ankaŭ sur la tero.
|
Patre nostre, qui es in le celos,
que tu nomine sia sanctificate;
que tu regno veni;
que tu voluntate sia facite
como in le celo, etiam super le terra.
|
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That's all. As I said, for more information, see the grammar. Know that there are a number of resources that will help you learn Sambahsa in addition to grammars, such as a very interactive introductory course, a phonetic transcriber that will tell you how is the pronunciation of words, and dynamic dictionaries in which you can find the answers in one click. Have fun!
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Mundialect