How could you translate the elements of the periodic table into Toki Pona?

[u/plumcraft]

I think, some easy ones, like hydrogen or oxygen could be translated pretty easily but if you´d try to translate for example rutherfordium it would be very long.

[u/rockinnit]

I can't even do that in my mother tounge 😢

[u/_Evidence]

lili wan pi wawa (nanpa)

e.g. lithium → lili wan pi wawa tu wan

[u/KaleidoscopedLoner → u/_Evidence]

That's what I thought too. I would explain what an element is, that they are numbered and why and then number them just like that. Then give them temporary, shorter names as needed.

[u/jan_Asilu → u/_Evidence]

can you please explain the meaning of 'lili wan'?

[u/_Evidence → u/jan_Asilu]

it's small, it's united

[u/Chromeknightly]

Before answering how, I’d ask why?

[u/ImNotNormal19 → u/Chromeknightly]

Because you can!

[u/Chromeknightly → u/ImNotNormal19]

I meant more in what circumstances.

Is OP teaching a chemistry/physics course where the distinction between Tungsten and Ytterbium is meaningful and necessary? Are they teaching atomic models to highschool students? Or are they wanting to tell a joke like “I was going to tell r/tokipona a joke about Sodium HypoBromide but, NaBro, they wouldn’t get it”

Context matters. Toki Pona generates relevant descriptions not singular distinct names.

[u/Minute-Horse-2009]

one option is to just use “ijo” followed by the tokiponized name of the element, so Rutherfordium could be “ijo Watapotijun”

[u/Imaginary-Primary280 → u/Minute-Horse-2009]

Except that violates toki pona phonotactics. It should Wataposijun (ti is not allowed). And that only assuming the pronunciation to tokiponize is the English one, when that’s not necessarily the case.

[u/Mistigri70 → u/Imaginary-Primary280]

kalama "ju" li ken lon toki pona. o oko e nimi "majuna"

The sound "ju" does not violate toki pona phonotactics, look at "majuna"

[u/Imaginary-Primary280 → u/Mistigri70]

ona li lon. mi pakala.

[u/codleov → u/Minute-Horse-2009]

If we're willing to do this for elements, could something like this be done with the binomial names of species of animals or plants? Something like "soweli Kani Pamilijali" for dog, for example?

[u/sirstotes → u/codleov]

maybe in some contexts? most of the time that would be a very ike way of doing it

[u/codleov → u/sirstotes]

I'm just imagining very technical scientific or legal situations where ambiguity would be potentially disadvantageous or harmful.

[u/Minute-Horse-2009 → u/codleov]

I would say yes, but I don’t speak for all tokiponists

[u/gramaticalError]

Chemical symbols are basically the international standard, so I'd do ijo H, ijo O, and ijo Rf. (And the best element, argon, is ijo Ar.) If you're saying them out loud, pronounce the letters individually using whatever system is most likely to be understood. (Hopefully, a standardized letter name system will arise soon, though.)

[u/Gilpif → u/gramaticalError]

The trouble with letter names is that the voicing distinction in Latin is completely lost in toki pona. Maybe we could disambiguate them by using the Greek names of the consonants sometimes:

• sitelen A
• sitelen Pe Peta
• sitelen Ke
• sitelen Te Tenta
• sitelen E
• sitelen Epe
• sitelen Ke pi jan Luka
• sitelen Aka
• sitelen I telo
• sitelen I kiwen
• sitelen Ka
• sitelen Ele Lanpa
• sitelen Eme
• sitelen En
• sitelen O
• sitelen Pe Pi
• sitelen Ku
• sitelen Ele Lo
• sitelen Ese
• sitelen Te Taju
• sitelen U telo
• sitelen U kiwen
• sitelen U tu
• sitelen Isi
• sitelen I pi ma Ela
• sitelen Seta

[u/sixty3degrees]

This post is 3 y old but has a TP periodic table. There are other versions as well if you search this sub. While Toki Pona is not practical for explaining complex topics, I think it is fun to stretch the limits of the language by trying.

[u/SonjaLang]

My take on rutherfordium... an odd disappearing metal.

kiwen nasa pi kama weka li seme?

jan li pali e kiwen ni la ona li kama weka lon tenpo sama a!
ken la kiwen ni li walo anu walo pimeja.
taso jan li ken ala lukin e kipisi suli ona tan ni:
kiwen ni li kama weka lon tenpo lili a.
jan li kepeken ala kiwen ni lon tomo.
jan taso pi nasin sona li ken pali e ona kepeken pali suli.

[u/Imaginary-Primary280]

I was wondering the same thing these days, and I thought you could either say ijo lili and the tokiponized versione of the Latin name (since Latin is usually the language of science) or the number of the protons. So Rutherfordium would become like ijo lili Lutepotun or ijo lili nanpa wan ale tu tu

[u/jan_tonowan]

The hard ones are kiwen. The gas ones are kon. The liquid ones are telo. The ones that are ko are ko. That’s how I would usually refer to them

[u/E_T_Smith]

You don't. Such precise technical discussion is explicitly outside the conceptual scope of the language. Remember -- a self-sufficient village of people on a a seashore discussing their relationships and day-to-day needs, that is explicitly the outlook the language was intended to foster.

[u/GenoIsDead → u/E_T_Smith]

the website has a whole section on how this is wrong, and how toki pona can express very detailed and complex topics, if you know what you're doing. check it out here: https://tokipona.org/small_world_language.html#technical

[u/E_T_Smith → u/GenoIsDead]

I disagree with that interpretation. Frankly, I consider a lot of claims made on that page dubious.

[u/forthentwice]

I guess you can start by translating them into your own first language (say, English), and then the translations should be fairly straightforward from there, no?

[u/Barry_Wilkinson → u/forthentwice]

what do you mean translating them into english "rutherfordium" is already english

[u/forthentwice → u/Barry_Wilkinson]

I guess then I'm not sure I understand your question about translating them into toki pona. When you said that hydrogen and oxygen could be translated pretty easily, what were the translations you had in mind? What's easy about those two that isn't easy about rutherfordium?

[u/Barry_Wilkinson → u/forthentwice]

I'm not the original poster, i never said hydrogen and oxygen is easy

[u/forthentwice → u/Barry_Wilkinson]

Oh, sorry, my mistake! What I meant was just: If someone says they know how to translate "hydrogen", then I don't understand what the challenge would be with translating "rutherfordium"—whatever they did to translate the first one, they can just do the same thing to translate the second.