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Introduction to Algilez

1.1       The Reason for Algilez

Knowledge of another language is not just a convenience for tourists wanting to order a coffee.  For many people in the world it is an economic necessity – their livelihoods depend on being able to communicate with other language speakers.  Reducing the learning time for a new language would be an economic benefit that would impact on millions of people and is the ultimate target of Algilez.  To achieve this, the aims of Algilez are quite simple – to provide an auxiliary language for world use, that is simple to use and learn, that is unambiguous in use and, by basing the vocabulary where possible on English, providing a language that is most familiar to the maximum number of people.

1.2       The Problems with English

At the present time, English is the major second language of the world.  It is the only language that fills an international role.  The English language, although easier to learn than some others, is still complicated and illogical.  To speak English well takes a very long time.  A universal second language that is quicker and simpler to learn would be of benefit to all who need to learn a second language.  If that universal language also uses a vocabulary that is similar to English, it would make the learning process easier for those with a knowledge of English.

1.3       International Conventions

No auxiliary language can really be started on a clean sheet of paper.  There are already too many international conventions that are so well established that it would be impossibly disruptive to change them (e.g. a decimal number system written in descending figures from left to right, a Latin based genus naming system for animals and plants etc, both of which are retained in Algilez).

However, there are other aspects, such as the use of a new alphabet, that would rapidly repay the investment of time needed to learn it by elimination of the confusion resulting from the multiple sounds possible for conventional Roman letters.  An optional alphabet has been produced for Algilez.  See Algilez Alphabet.

1.4       The main features of Algilez:

• Algilez follows the word order convention of English, Chinese etc (i.e. Subject, Verb, Object) but with a simpler grammar and vocabulary.

• The vocabulary is based on 'condensed' English, providing maximum familiarisation for those people who have some knowledge of English as a first or second language and short simple words to learn for those who don't.

• The whole vocabulary is logically categorised by the meaning of the words.

• There is a single meaning for each word.

• Words are pronounced as they are spelt.

• The grammar is 'logical', in that qualifiers (adjectives & adverbs) follow the word they are qualifying, enabling the listener to begin to understand the meaning of each sentence as it is spoken or read, rather than having to wait until the end.

• International conventions for numbers and Latin based plant & animal genus names are retained (but transcribed into phonetic Algilez words).

• The optional Algilez alphabet, using a single symbol matched to each sound, overcomes many of the difficulties associated with the well used, but far from uniform, Roman alphabet.  See Algilez Alphabet.