Resources

Books on the floor
Photo by cottonbro studio

Toki Pona is a small community so it can be tough to find resources for it. Here are some that have helped me on my journey.

General Information

For general information resources and first steps into the community, it is hard to go wrong with tokipona.org, the official website for toki pona by Sonja Lang. Another helpful resource is sona.pona.la, a wiki for toki pona.

Words

For an excellent comprehensive dictionary, check out nimi.li, created by ilo Tani. It includes a dictionary of even some obscure words, a list of common compounds, and videos showcasing luka pona, a sign language with toki pona roots. nimi.li’s list of compounds comes from another excellent dictionary is ku, the Toki Pona Dictionary, written by jan Sonja in 2021, which is a compilation of 11,000 translations.

Flash Cards

If flash cards help you learn, try out Toki Trainer, created by nickipedia. If you already use Anki, try out this free Anki deck: Ultimate Toki Pona, created by samm81, which has card support for sitelen pona, sitelen sitelen, and even sitelen jelo.

Other Lessons

If you are more of a visual learner, there is a great YouTube series by jan Misali with four lessons: toki pona lessons 1-4. The series is currently incomplete, but it is a great way to get into toki pona (just like my lessons!). jan Misali also created a completed series 8 years ago called sona pi toki pona, which has 12 days of toki pona lessons, though this series is older and may have some incorrect information. Probably one of the best set of lessons is going straight to the creator: jan Sonja with her book, pu, Toki Pona: The Language of Good from 2014.

Works in Toki Pona

After all these resources for toki pona it would be nice if you could use them, right? Try out su, a translation of The Wizard of Oz in Toki Pona, written by jan Sonja and illustrated by Evan Dahm from 2024. Or, if you have the urge to see “a weird comic about weird creatures acting weird in a weird place” (Vacon), try nasin nasa by Vacon, a webcomic featuring aliens written in sitelen sitelen. If these do not pique your interest, try making your own with prompts or check out others’ works from ma pona pi toki pona, a Discord server for toki pona.

Writing Systems

If you are looking to write sitelen sitelen, the sitelen sitelen SVG generator by Olaf Janssen will be invaluable to you.