Slovianto is a highly simplified form of Interslavic that allows non-Slavic people to express themselves at a very basic level when visiting Slavic countries or maintaining contact with Slavs via the Internet. Grammar is limited to a bare minimum, and forms that are not strictly necessary are not used at all. Because it does not contain anything that cannot be found in the Slavic languages, the result wil not look or sound too awkward to Slavic speakers, but rather remind them of the kind of language used by small children.
Slovianto can also be used as a first step in the process of learning the „real” Interslavic language. It has been constructed in such way that it can gradually be expanded with new bits and pieces that occur in more complex versions. Thus, we distinguish three different levels, each of them adding new elements that bring Slovianto closer to Interslavic:
The working title Slovianto is a portmanteau word for „Slavic Esperanto”. This name, albeit somewhat tongue-in-cheek, refers to the simplicity of Slovianto: it has no gender, no cases, no aspect, little conjugation and no irregularity. Yet, that is where the similarity to Esperanto ends, because Slovianto's means of simplification are in fact far more similar to those used by Interlingua.
Slovianto can be written in the Latin alphabet and the Cyrillic alphabet, but we will concentrate on the Latin alphabet here:
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A — as a in English „father”
B — as in English C — as ts in English „bits” Č — as ch in English „church” D — as in English DŽ — as j in English „John” E — as e in English „best” Ě — as ye in English „yet” F — as in English G — as g in English „good” H — as ch in Scottish „loch” |
I — as ea in English „beat”
J — as y in English „yard” K — as in English, but without aspiration L — as in English LJ — as li in English „million” M — as in English N — as in English NJ — as ny in English „canyon” O — as o in English „or” P — as in English, but without aspiration |
R — rolled r
RJ — rolled r, followed by ye in English „yet” S — as s in English „spin” Š — as sh in English „shop” T — as in English, but without aspiration U — as oo in English „book” V — as v in English „avoid” Y — as i in English „bit” Z — as in English Ž — as si in English „vision” |
In the Interslavic dictionary you will find other characters as well, like ò, ų, å or ť. You can simply ignore the diacritics and read them as o, u, a, t etc. That goes for ě, too. The only characters that keep their diacritics in Latin orthography are č, š and ž. If you find writing them inconvenient, you can always use cz, sz and zs (or cx, sx and zx) as an alternative.
Accentuation is fairly free. What matters more is that you speak slowly and clearly. As a general guideline, it would deserve recommendation to put stress on the antepenultimate syllable.
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— Dobry denj! Restoran jest otvorjeny? — Dobry denj. Da, my jest otvorjeny. — Možno tu piti něčto? — Očevidno, čto prinesti k vas? — Čto vy imat? — Čaj, kava, pivo, vino, vodka... — A vy takože imat něčto hladne? — Da, my imat sok, voda, mlěko... — Togda dajte nam dva soki, prosim. — Dva soki, dobro. Vy takože hočet jesti něčto? — Može... Vy imat hlěb? — Da, očevidno. Hlěb, meso, ryba, vsečto jest. — Hvala, samo hlěb s maslo, prosim. |
— Good day! Is the restaurant open? — Good day. Yes, we are open. — Is it possible to have something to drink here? — Of course, what shall I bring you? — What do you have? — Tea, coffee, beer, wine, vodka... — Do you also have something cold? — Yes, we have juice, water, milk... — Then please give us two juice. — Two juice, okay. Would you like to eat something as well? — Maybe... Do you have bread? — Yes, of course. Bread, meat, fish, everything is there. — Thank you, just breat with butter, please. |
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a – and, but ako – if ale – but avto – car bez – without běly – white bliz – almost bolje – more brati – to take byti – to be čaj – tea čas – time časina – hour čest – part člověk – person, human being črěz – through črny – black čto – what da – yes dati – to give daže – even denj – day dělati – to do, to make dělo – act, deed děte – child dlja – for do – to, towards, till dobro – well dobry – good dom – house dostati – to get, to receive drugy – second država – state dva – two dveri – door glas – voice glava – head gleděti – to watch god – year govoriti – to say, to speak grad – city, town groši – money hladny – cold hlěb – bread htěti – to want hvala – thanks i – and idti – to go, to walk ih – them; their ili – or imati – to have iz – from, out of |
ja – I jedin – one jedino – only jego – him; his jej – her jesti – to eat ješče – still k – to, towards kaky – what kind of kako – how; like kava – coffee kde – where kniga – book kogda – when konec – end kto – who ktory – which lice – face ljubiti – to love, to like maly – little, small maslo – butter medžu – between menje – less meso – meat město – place minuta – minute mlěko – milk mnogo – much; very mogti – can, to be able moj – my može – maybe, perhaps možno – it is possible; possibly muž – man, husband my – we mysliti – to think na – on, upon, at nad – above, beyond najbolje – most naš – our ne – no; not nesti – to carry neželi – than něčto – something někaky – some kind of několiko – a few, several ni … ni … – neither ... nor ... ničto – nothing nikto – nobody noč – night noga – leg novy – new o, ob – about |
obči – common, general očevidno – of course od – of, from odgovoriti – to answer oko – eye on – he ona – she oni – they ostati – to stay, to remain otec – father otvoriti – open piti – to drink pivo – beer po – after; in the manner of početi – to begin, to start pod – under pogled – look, sight, view pokoj – peace, quiet poslědny – last potom – after that, then potrěbny – needed, necessary prěd – before pri – by, near prijatelj – friend prijdti – to come prinesti – to bring problem – problem prosim – please prositi – to ask (for sth.), to require prosty – simple, easy prvy – first pytanje – question pytati – to ask (a question) rabota – work, labour rabotati – to work, to labour raz – time (in the sense of: ... times) razuměti – to understand restoran – restaurant ruka – arm ryba – fish s – with směsta – immediately snova – again sam – alone samo – only, merely se, sebe – oneself seděti – to sit sejčas – now sila – power, force slovo – word slučaj – case, instance, event sok – juice |
sovsěm – entirely, completely spati – to sleep stary – old stati – to become stati se – to happen stojati – to stand stol – table strana – side svět – world svoj – one's own taky – such tako – so, in such way takože – also, too tamo – there teply – warm to – this, that togda – then toj – this, that toliko – this much, that much, only trěba – it is needed, it is necesary tri – three tu – here tvoj – your (sg.) ty – you (sg.) uho – ear uže – already v – in; into vaš – your (pl.) veliky – great, big ves – all, entire vid – aspect, look, vision viděti – to see vino – wine voda – water vojna – war vrěme – time vsaky – every vse – everything vsegda – always vy – you (pl.) vyjdti – exit, quit vysoky – high za – behind začto – why, what for zato – that's why, therefore zemja – earth, ground zly – bad značiti – to mean znati – to know že – that (conjunction) žena – woman, wife žiti – to live |
To practise these words, you can use the Word Learning Tool.