Modern Indo-European learning course (Alpha version) revised, Syntax near to publication, and translations

It seems that, after some months of public standstill in our websites, people are showing again that they have been working hard backstage. 2012 will be a great year for those willing to learn (Late) Proto-Indo-European as a living language:

1) Mario has published a revision of his work, the Modern Indo-European learning course. He would like to thank readers and contributors, and we would like to remind you that you can collaborate with corrections and additions, by contacting him personally.

2) Fernando is still working on his temptative Syntax of Modern Indo-European. He has been creating a great, thorough and comprehensive work, full of bilingual examples, from the advances we have been able to read. And even though it must be published months later than expected, and possibly still months from now – since he is constantly revising and improving it -, it will certainly be worth the waiting…

3) A member has offered himself to translate the Grammar into French. If you would like to offer him some help, please contact us.

4) As you probably know, more than 3 years ago our account on PayPal was suddenly frozen, after receiving some money from members; it was “provisional”, until we showed “proofs” of our not-for-profit nature (which they hadn’t asked on registration, or for receiving money). Apart from the official documents that we sent them and that should have sufficed (Associations are not-for-profit in Spain, and Dnghu is one of the few that appear on the official National Registry of Associations), we have sent PayPal every possible document requested, and asked for more instructions to open again the account: After hours lost obtaining, scanning and sending every possible stupid “proof” you can imagine (for an account that might receive a maximum of some hundred dollars a year), they haven’t done so – just allowed us temporarily to take away the money received. Because of that, the membership of the Association has been almost impossible for everyone since 2009, and indeed regular payments were stopped, and just an initial fee requested; some recent members haven therefore been allowed to join officially, and to pay after we solve this issue.

After all these months, I have to agree with the people who hate PayPal for their service, and I guess we will have to create an account on Google Checkout or other similar but less known service. As you might infer, the payment for membership was always more a question of barrier to entry (“only those who are really interested in the Association will pay for membership”) than a financing issue for us – since we survive on free work and donations -; but this level of incompetence is unacceptable…

Also, after the improvements of 2012 in the development of the language, we certainly need to start thinking about organizing language courses and “congresses”, as well as other services for interested people. For such events, external payment cannot be just an option to complement donations, and we will need a professional and trustable payment service.

Your Indo-European Association team.