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Why learn Esperanto? | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Esperanto |  | |
| angeltreats Diglot Groupie United Kingdom Joined 6295 days ago 48 posts - 49 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Swedish | Message 89 of 140 03 September 2007 at 8:07am | IP Logged | |||||
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Thanks guys, that does answer my question. I was thinking in terms of Spanish (I don't know anything about English grammar - I know that we do have a subjunctive but have no idea when it's used). Things like "si tuviera mas dinero, comparía un coche" is what I was wondering about. It also seems strange to me that there is only one past tense and I wonder how you can distinguish between what you did and what you were doing or have done, if you see what I mean. I've only ever studied Romance languages so anything different seems alien to me!
I really am very intrigued, I will have to have a look and see if I can find an online course. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Sprachprofi Nonaglot Senior Member Germany learnlangs.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6471 days ago 2608 posts - 4866 votes  Speaks: German*, English, French, Esperanto, Greek, Mandarin, Latin, Dutch, Italian Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swahili, Indonesian, Japanese, Modern Hebrew, Portuguese | Message 90 of 140 03 September 2007 at 11:31am | IP Logged | |||||
That's the fun of learning an entirely different language: you discover entirely new ways of expressing things. Most of the time, it's really enough to know that something happened in the past, as evidenced by the -is ending. The context can explain the rest most of the time - and actually there's not that much of a difference in meaning, foreigners have a hard time figuring out when to use which past tense in English. For example: Hieraŭ nokte mi dancis multe. - Last night I danced a lot. Dum la lastaj jaroj mi dancis multe. - In the last few years I have danced a lot. Mi dancis kiam la gastoj alvenis. - I was dancing when the guests arrived. In cases where you really want to express this nuance, you can resort to a participle construction: "Panjo, kial vi vokis min? Mi estis dancanta kun Chuck!" - "Mum, why did you call me? I was dancing with Chuck!" Kiam la polico alvenis, la krimulo jam estis foririta. - When the police arrived, the criminal had already gone. (if you change it to "la krimulo jam estis for", you can express the same using just the regular past tense) The participles, an advanced part of Esperanto grammar that you can usually do without, actually allow you to render some phrases more exactly than in English when need be, e. g. just like in Latin you can express "those who will die (are greeting you, Caesar)" in just one word - and, unlike in Latin, you could also express "those who will be killed" in just one word. What's more, the participles are much easier than Latin or English participles.
There are lots of online courses, for example Lernu.net alone offers 16 courses or so. To make it easier to find a good course for you, have a look at the reviews I posted at http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?T ID=6353&PN=1. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| GeorgeStilly Newbie Australia Joined 6294 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Greek, French, Spanish | Message 91 of 140 05 September 2007 at 3:58am | IP Logged | |||||
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Good thread, i've always wondered that myself.
I know I'm no expert, but i doubt more than a million people speak esperanto. PS: what does it sound like? Is there an audio clip anywhere of it? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| LilleOSC Senior Member United States lille.theoffside.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6692 days ago 545 posts - 546 votes 4 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 92 of 140 05 September 2007 at 5:42pm | IP Logged | |||||
Here is a video clip with Esperanto audio, but I don't think the speaker is using a neutral accent. Am I incorrect to say that there is a neutral Esperanto accent? http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=88YPPl6jJEQ&mode=related&searc h= By the way for those that can speak French here is an interview with a member of the Europe – Democracy – Esperanto party. I didn't know this party existed.
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3SFZGsozYk 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Frakseno Newbie Joined 6311 days ago 23 posts - 28 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Esperanto | Message 93 of 140 05 September 2007 at 5:44pm | IP Logged | |||||
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The moment Esperanto becomes the property of one political party or another is the moment I stop using it.
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| nissimb Tetraglot Groupie India tenjikuyamato.blogsp Joined 6415 days ago 79 posts - 102 votes Speaks: Marathi*, Hindi, English, Japanese Studies: Korean, Esperanto, Indonesian | Message 94 of 140 05 September 2007 at 10:38pm | IP Logged | |||||
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The moment Esperanto becomes the property of one political party or another is the moment I stop using it.
Interesting opinion, Frakseno! May I ask why do you think so? I am also a great fan of Esperanto like you (although I am not an Esperantist) and I think the spread of Esperanto is limited because Esperanto does not have political, economic, or military clout that the "major" languages of the world have. If a political party, or even a single country adopts Esperanto as its official language [I think a politically neutral country like Switzerland would be the ideal candidate:))], things will become brighter and brighter for "nia kara lingvo". Gxis!! Edited by nissimb on 05 September 2007 at 10:40pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Sprachprofi Nonaglot Senior Member Germany learnlangs.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6471 days ago 2608 posts - 4866 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Esperanto, Greek, Mandarin, Latin, Dutch, Italian Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swahili, Indonesian, Japanese, Modern Hebrew, Portuguese | Message 95 of 140 05 September 2007 at 11:32pm | IP Logged | |||||
Here's a site with audio samples, and here you can listen to legal mp3s of music in Esperanto. (1-2 full-length sample songs by many diverse Esperanto bands) By the way, two "Esperanto estas..." videos are ready at the moment. You can see both with English subtitles at http://en.lernu.net/biblioteko/filmoj/eo_estas.php. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Frakseno Newbie Joined 6311 days ago 23 posts - 28 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Esperanto | Message 96 of 140 06 September 2007 at 10:25am | IP Logged | |||||
I have been around long enough to see too many well-intentioned people and movements go horribly awry and to be betrayed by political ideologues. If I want politics, I will learn a national language and immerse myself in that nation/culture's conflicts. I choose Esperanto in part because it has no politics and no party line. I imagine that if I had been working to learn Russian around the time of the Communist Revolution, I would have thrown my hands up in disgust; how could I immerse myself in that carnage? No - instead let me remain, linguistically at least, a rootless cosmopolitan. I'll immerse myself in a culture of people whose goal is communication, not conversion. Books, not bombs (ideological or literal). And if Esperanto does become associated with a political party, even the "good guys," whoever you or I believe them to be at the moment, then my reason for seeking refuge in Esperanto has gone. Whether tyrants or pacifists, I don't want my language standing for either. I may be alone in this but as I say, I have seen too much to be naive. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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