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Beginner Texts is designed with technical accessibility considerations in mind.

The contexualizing descriptions are duplicated as alt text. If using a screenreader, you may prefer to turn either the contexualizing descriptions or the images off to prevent the presentation of duplicated information. These contextualizing descriptions contain all information that the story itself might reference.

If you experience accessibility-related issues while using the site, (regardless of whether you faced a barrier or simply had a poor user experience), I desperately want to know the issue so that I can fix it. Contact me at tokipona.sasalin@gmail.com. or on Discord @raacz106.

You may notice that some of the English translations appear to be ungrammatical, strange, or uncanny. This is because I've tried hard to reflect Toki Pona syntax and semantics in the English itself.

For example, I might translate something like, "I arrive in the large building's basement," mi kama lon anpa pi tomo suli, as "I come to be located at the large building's underside."

• kama, used in this phrase as a preverb, is literally "come to be"
• lon, used in this phrase as a preposition, is literally "located at"
• anpa pi tomo suli is literally "the large building's underside"

I hope this style of translation, while being slightly ungraceful, helps emphasize the language's unique structure and tendencies to learners.

My English translations offer one correct interpretation of the material, but other correct interpretations are possible.

For example, a tomo suli can be a large structure, an important home, and old mansion, a large bus.

When I translate a Toki Pona word, I am often forced to pick just one, specific, English word, even though the Toki Pona word is more broad. If you happen to think of a different word than the one I pick, it doesn't necessarily mean that you were wrong.

For example, if your translation is 'big house' and my translation is 'old structure,' and the picture is of a large, old mansion, we are both right.

Consulting a good dictionary is one way to confirm your own interpretation, especially if you are just getting used to the words.

In the stories, I use the same words that I seriously use in real life.

In lipu Linku terms, relying on 2025 polling data, this means all Core words as well as the Common words: kipisi, kin, leko, meli, mije, misikeke, monsuta, n, namako, soko, tonsi; and the Uncommon word: majuna.

You are free to use and not use whatever words you like. Most teachers recommend taking the time to really understand the Core words before experimenting with other words. See: "Can I add a new word?" at /r/tokipona's FAQ.

All texts have both Sitelen Pona and sitelen Lasina versions. Each Sitelen Pona document is formatted separately; it is not simply a matter of applying a different font. There may be differences between the two versions.

I use a punctuation-less indented style of Sitelen Pona, and the site uses the nasin nanpa font throughout.

I regularly make use of the directional ni to indicate e ni: clauses.

In this texts, I've decided to use some of these grammatical styles:

Extensions:

• extended li style with mi and sina.
• multiple pi phrases can be used subsequently (used only in Quest texts)
• lukin is used as a preverb meaning 'to try to' instead of alasa

Restrictions:

• kepeken cannot be used as a content word
• prepositional phrases cannot modify the subject
• prepositional phrases cannot be used as transitive predicates
• open and pini cannot be used as preverbs

The vast majority of these stories feature images that are licensed under versions of CC-BY or CC-BY-SA. The full details of what that means can be found on the Creative Commons website, or perhaps at this article, What Are The Different Types of Creative Commons Licenses?. In brief,

• CC-BY: Use in any way you want (even use it to make money) but attribute the author and link to the original license.
• CC-BY-SA: Use in any way you want, attributing the author and linking to the original license, but anything you make with it also has to be licensed as CC-BY-SA.

CC-BY-SA is also the license that Beginner Stories uses for the vast majority of its content.

For more information on my personal motivation behind using Creative Commons licenses, read jLakuse o, Why Creative Commons.

But there are two major exceptions.

• In the case that a page features an image that is licensed under GFDL-1.2, the page comprises a document licensed under GFDL-1.2. Details for the GFDL license will be clearly indicated above the footer.
• In the case that a page features an image that is licensed under CC-BY-NC, the text of that page is still licensed under CC-BY-SA, as Creative Commons licenses do not recognize a grouping together of discrete works into one work as an 'Adaptation'. Pages that feature a CC-BY-NC image have a note above the footer that links to this explanation.
  Do be aware that the CC-BY-NC image's license remains in effect, meaning that while you can sell a properly reproduced version of just the CC-BY-SA text, you cannot reproduce the CC-BY-NC image/CC-BY-SA text combination for commercial purposes.