About this edition#

First Steps in Lojban (affectionately nicknamed Hajiloji) has been in the works since September 2013. As of April 2015, we're moving sites and rolling out the Second Edition (Hajiloji 2). It's still a work in progress, but we’re publishing chapters as soon as they're ready.

In the first edition, the text was written by cogas (“Ginger”), with the adorable illustrations provided by Vae. I am deeply grateful to guskant for his ongoing guidance, to youxkei for improving the site's code for this migration, and to PJCG (the Young Lojbanists’ group) along with many others. Hajiloji only exists because of users like you and your generous support. ki'e sai — thank you all!

This English edition is an adaptation of はじめてのロジバン 第２版 (Hajiloji 2) — a Japanese introductory Lojban course by cogas (with illustrations by Vae). The adaptation to English, with expanded content and interactive quizzes, was done by la gleki.

The "Big Picture" Approach#

While writing Hajiloji 2, my main focus was on maintaining a "big picture" perspective.

The original goal of Hajiloji was:

To make an introduction where you think, “Oh, Lojban isn’t such a big deal — it might even be easy!”

But due to some oversight on my part, the first edition ended up packing in so much detail that calling it an "introduction" was a bit of a stretch. Compared to older guides like First Steps in Arca or First Steps in Esperanto, complex topics started creeping in way too early.

So for Hajiloji 2, I returned to those inspirations, aiming for a broad grasp of Lojban. If you just want to start speaking and writing without drowning in deep theory first, this is the course for you.

Of course, if you’re looking to savor every nuance of the language, this might feel a bit brief. And if you’re the type who fusses over every technicality, you might find this course doesn't "scratch every itch" just yet.

To address that, Hajiloji 2 includes more supplementary material and FAQ notes for those finer details that often come up but might clutter the main lessons.

Another focus is the de facto standard usage. Lojban’s specifications allow for immense freedom, but explaining every possible permutation at once can quickly become overwhelming.

In this course, I want to use “how most people actually speak Lojban” as our model. Most speakers stick to ASCII and naturally favor something like SVO (Subject-Verb-Object) order. While exploring the full flexibility of Lojban is great, mastering a solid default first is even better.

Reference and BPFK#

Even in the Hajiloji 2 era, grammar and semantics keep evolving.

Hajiloji 2 uses CLL 1.0 as a reference, but for semantics it mostly follows current BPFK material. Articles (le, lo, etc.) in particular may differ from CLL — please keep that in mind.

So: pick up the telescope called Lojban and see what the world looks like through a new lens!