toki, ale o!
Let’s catch up with this past month in the Toki Pona community! I try to post a newsletter every two weeks, but I’ve had a lot on my plate, because…
- suno pi toki pona, the yearly Toki Pona celebration, is going live this weekend! The 24-hour schedule is jam-packed with informative talks, creative works, game time, and live music! Come along and watch the stream on Youtube, Twitch, or Discord!
This month has been good for the written word:
- The yearly writing contest is wrapping up with 31 short and 21 long-form stories! Vote for your favourite submissions!
- Surprise! jan Sonja released su #2. This book unites prominent voices in Toki Pona, Esperanto, Guosa, and other languages. How do our communities envision our shared destiny to thrive together under the same sun? Where do you agree or disagree on solidarity, equality, and collaboration? o su a! Explore the free PDF. What’s your personal message, art, or interpretation of #sunosama? You create the future. How do you imagine conlang speakers in 2037 will look back on this growing question?
- Following up from the parallel translation of Siddartha mentioned last time, jan Tene released a translation of Strange Tales by Lovecraft in book form!
- jan Kuwi designed a new writing system for Toki Pona, sitelen Kuwi! Here’s another showcase of it!
Tokiponists continue to arrange irl meetups:
- Over 40 Toki Pona speakers met up in Strasbourg this week. The next Europe meetup is scheduled to be in August 2026 in Spain — in time for the total solar eclipse!
- Tokiponists living in Louisiana are organising a small Discord community, with potential to meet up later!
Immerse yourself in Toki Pona:
- mun Kekan San plays Deltarune chapter 4!
- jan Wajan Kemawi translated an Ace Attorney scene!
- jan Polijan shows a place with a lot of traffic signs!
- jan Ke Tami visits country-themed parks! Including a very different kind of park.
Original and translated songs:
- Sadale released A Song Went Missing!
- jan Pikesike translated Don’t Mine At Night, a Minecraft song!
- also Buddy Holly, a song by Weezer!
- and also Ash Again, a Gawr Gura song!
- lili Kuwita translated Heat Abnormal!
- jan Tanijelun translated Tetoris!
A bit about learning tools:
- ike Supuki makes a site to help with vocab memorisation! (Though keep in mind the tool’s not perfect — some translations expected from you may be strange or nonsensical out of context!)
- linku.la, one of the two popular sites to access the community-run Linku dictionary, updated the interface! The word cards are now less contrasty, screen space is now used a bit more thoughtfully on desktop, and a few new handy tools are included.
But wait, there’s more!
- lipamanka talks about misleading claims about Toki Pona!
- jan Eliku continues to make Youtube shorts on varied topics!
And, of course, some weekly events you can take part in:
- soweli Lesi hosts a weekly writing prompt thread in kama sona, aimed at improving reading and writing skills! (This is a new weekly event, it just began a month ago!)
- As usual, the VRChat community holds its weekend meetups, which you are welcome to join!
- jan Lakuse hosts luka pona lessons in kama sona every Sunday!
- jan Ke Tami hosts a weekly voice chat meetup for jan Eta’s lipu tenpo reading group. Both beginners and proficient speakers are welcome!
o awen pona.
— kala Asi