First Steps in Lojban

First things first: if you can’t read it, you can’t use it! So let’s start with pronunciation and the alphabet.

Lojban is typically written in ASCII, which fits the internet age perfectly. While other scripts exist, ASCII is what most people use. Below are the letters we'll be using (H, Q, and W are not used). Here are approximate English hints — use the play buttons to hear each letter.

Got it. So it's basically the standard Roman-letter values, but without H, Q, or W.

The tricky ones seem to be c (sh), x (that rasping sound), and y (the 'uh' sound), right? What exactly is “x”?

x is a voiceless velar fricative — between “k” and “h”. It’s like ch in Scottish loch, or ch in German Bach, or J in Spanish Jose, or Kh in Modern Arabic Khaled. Try pronouncing ksss while keeping your tongue down and you get this sound. Compare c, k, and x:

• c▶
• k▶
• x▶

(Uhh, velar-what now…?) I’ll replay those a few times before bed. And y is…?

That’s the neutral vowel — English schwa: like the vowel in comma, not the y in misty or cycle.

• y▶

Relax your mouth and voice; you’ll get something like it.

Got it. How do you name the letters? Ay, bee, cee?

Consonants: [consonant] + y + . · Vowels: . + [vowel] + bu

The . represents silence—a brief pause or a glottal stop. Keep in mind it is not a sentence-ending period like in English (we’ll cover those later). Dots are used in letter names to ensure words don’t accidentally blend together.

Also, a crucial rule: the apostrophe only ever appears between two vowels. You'll never see sequences like k'a or d'e. While the apostrophe sounds like a soft h, Lojban treats it as a special glide, not as a standard consonant like b or m.

Makes sense. ts and tc are like 'tz' and 'ch', and dz and dj are just their voiced counterparts. Simple enough!

The chart covers most of it, but you should also know how vowel clusters work. The lerfu audio pack has no separate ia or ua files — only the trigraphs aia and aua, which are exactly i and u as semivowels between vowels:

In these clusters, i and u act as semivowels.

So ies is like English “yes”.

Exactly. Then we have diphthongs:

These are always treated as a single syllable.

What about ao or ea?

Lojban only recognizes those four as diphthongs. If you want to connect a, e, or o directly, you have to separate them with i, u, or an ' (apostrophe).

Fair enough.

Quiz time! Try reading these sentences aloud.

Okay, let's give it a go...

1. shoy... ro... do... mi-heh... so-rahn... sho-ho... ko-shon (something like that?)
2. mi pra-mi do... ee-seh-moo-hee-bo... doon-dah lo mel-bi khru-lah
3. oh-hee... moo... khahg-zhee... so-fuh-bahk-nee... shoo zvah-tee leh poor-dee

How was my accent?

“Soviet cows” — what even is that?

The third one is a famous pangram: it uses every Lojban letter.

Whoa, you’re right!

It's a fun challenge! I even made my own—it includes diphthongs, semivowels, and those tricky affricates (ts, tc, dz, dj). Check this out:

That’s long.