Kvankam la labortempo estas longa, ŝi volas plentempan postenon, ne partatempan.

Kvankam introduces a concessive clause, like although or even though in English.

So:

• Kvankam la labortempo estas longa = although the working time is long

A useful point: kvankam does not force any special verb form. Esperanto just uses the normal tense you need. Here it is estas because the statement is in the present.

The comma separates the kvankam clause from the main clause.

• Kvankam la labortempo estas longa, = subordinate clause
• ŝi volas plentempan postenon... = main clause

This is very similar to English punctuation in a sentence like Although the hours are long, she wants a full-time position.

Yes. Labortempo is a compound word:

• labor- = work
• tempo = time

So labortempo literally means work-time, that is, working time, work hours, or hours of work, depending on context.

Compound words are extremely common in Esperanto, and the last part is usually the main idea. Here the main idea is tempo, a kind of time.

La is the definite article, meaning the.

So la labortempo means the working time / the work hours. It suggests that the speaker is talking about a specific set of hours already understood from the context.

Remember:

• Esperanto has la for the
• Esperanto has no indefinite article, so there is no separate word for a/an

Depending on context, labortempo without la could also be possible, but la is natural if the hours are already known or specific.

Because longa is a predicate adjective after estas.

In Esperanto, adjectives used after verbs like esti normally do not take the accusative -n.

So:

• la labortempo estas longa = the working time is long

But compare that with a direct object phrase:

• ŝi volas longan paŭzon = she wants a long break

Here longan gets -n because it describes a direct object.

Because the whole phrase is the direct object of volas.

• ŝi volas = she wants
• plentempan postenon = a full-time position

In Esperanto:

• the direct object gets -n
• any adjective describing that noun must agree with it

So:

• posteno → postenon
• plentempa → plentempan

This agreement is a very important Esperanto rule.

Because Esperanto can omit a repeated noun when it is obvious from the context.

The full idea is:

• ŝi volas plentempan postenon, ne partatempan postenon

But repeating postenon would sound unnecessary, so Esperanto leaves it out:

• ...ne partatempan

Even when the noun is omitted, the adjective keeps the ending it would have had with that noun. So partatempan still has -n because the understood noun is postenon.

This works a lot like English not a part-time one, except Esperanto often just uses the adjective by itself.

Not exactly.

• laboro = work, labor, the act of working, or a job in a broad sense
• posteno = a position, post, role, or job slot

In this sentence, posteno fits well because it suggests an employment position, such as a full-time or part-time post.

So plentempa posteno is specifically a full-time position.

They are compound adjectives related to time:

• plentempa = full-time
• partatempa = part-time

Then in the sentence they become:

• plentempan
• partatempan

because they describe the direct object.

A practical way to understand them is:

• plen- gives the idea of full
• parta gives the idea of partial / part
• temp- = time
• final -a makes an adjective
• final -n marks agreement with the direct object

You do not need to overanalyze them every time; it is fine to learn them as useful vocabulary items meaning full-time and part-time.

Because ne is negating that alternative.

The structure is:

• ŝi volas plentempan postenon, ne partatempan
  = she wants a full-time position, not a part-time one

So ne is not negating volas. It is contrasting two types of position:

• plentempan
• partatempan

This is a common pattern in Esperanto when correcting or contrasting:

• X, ne Y = X, not Y

Ŝi means she.

The letter ŝ is pronounced like English sh. So ŝi sounds like shee.

A few useful points:

• ŝ is a separate Esperanto letter
• it is not just a fancy version of s
• Esperanto spelling is very regular, so ŝ always has the same sound

So if you can say English shoe, you already know the ŝ sound.