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Why learn Esperanto? | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Esperanto |  | |
| Karakorum Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6381 days ago 201 posts - 232 votes  Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written)* Studies: French, German | Message 65 of 140 16 August 2007 at 6:34pm | IP Logged | |||||
No it isn't. Esperanto is an artificial language with a disperse and small number of speakers. Since it is artificial it has the ability to define itself, but since its base is geographically disperse it needs to set limits so that it won't disolve. I am still not totally sold on Esperanto, I guess it's just something that only a specific kind of person would find interesting. So your opposing point of view is very helpful in challenging the positive perspective and providing an alternative viewpoint. But to be honest it's very hard to get to the meat of your posts because they seem very reactionary on the surface and are riddled with ad hominem and cheap shots. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| tmesis Senior Member Mayotte Joined 6460 days ago 154 posts - 146 votes Speaks: English* | Message 66 of 140 16 August 2007 at 6:42pm | IP Logged | |||||
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- Edited by tmesis on 17 February 2008 at 2:41pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| tmesis Senior Member Mayotte Joined 6460 days ago 154 posts - 146 votes Speaks: English* | Message 67 of 140 16 August 2007 at 7:03pm | IP Logged | |||||
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- Edited by tmesis on 17 February 2008 at 2:41pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| rafaelrbp Pentaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 6825 days ago 181 posts - 201 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Spanish, English, French, Italian Studies: German | Message 68 of 140 16 August 2007 at 10:13pm | IP Logged | |||||
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There is a Portuguese word, "saudade", that was considered one of the 10 most difficult words to translate into other languages. It is used to represent a feeling of longing for something that one is fond of, which is gone, but might return in a distant future, according to Wikipedia: Saudade
You use it to express the feeling when you miss someone or something. Can this word be translated to Esperanto? (just curious) Back to the topic, I would really like to learn Esperanto, if it was not for its special characters. Comm'on, wasn't it supposed to be easy and simple?! I see no need to extra characters with extra sounds. The lesser, the better, in my humble opinion. Edited by rafaelrbp on 16 August 2007 at 10:14pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6580 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 69 of 140 17 August 2007 at 12:45am | IP Logged | |||||
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Japanese equivalents (and I'm sure a native speaker could do better):
detaladi: berabera-hanasu pagegi: harai-sugiru, daidaikin forgesejo: [I'm not sure this is a useful word.] ventido: ichijin-no-kaze fortempiĝi: wasureta italinde belega: itaria-ni makanai-hodo ii malsekvi: gyakuhoukou、hantaigawa ĉuvivaj homoj: seishi eldenti: ha-o muite antaŭdoloro: osore forregali: [Do Esperantists actually universally use and understand this word as you defined it? It seems pretty useless.] preterami: hakanai ai kunlipuloj: ochobo-guchi homarano: ningen, jinbutsu --- Of course, with Japanese, you have the advantage of 130 million people who universally understand and agree on the precise meaning and usage of these words. :) Edited by Captain Haddock on 17 August 2007 at 2:01am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Karakorum Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6381 days ago 201 posts - 232 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written)* Studies: French, German | Message 70 of 140 17 August 2007 at 1:46am | IP Logged | |||||
I think the post above by captain Haddock (is that the Haddock from Tintin?) are interesting. I want to ask the same question in a different way though. To me the meanings of all these compound words are not as innate or logical as you seem to be suggesting. It might just be me, but I don't get why preterami couldn't simply mean a quick affair that ends quickly (as opposed to one that lasts long but isn't initiated properly). This also applies to some of the other words. Is it because I don't understand the nuances of agglutination, or is it because these words have acquired a specific meaning through tradition? In both cases, doesn't this negate the simple elegance of the system? After 9 pages I think I have a better understanding of why Esperantists choose to spend time on the language. I am not gonna pursue it though since I still think it's a waste of time. I appreciate other people's choice to learn it (more power to you), but If I can learn Spanish in 16 months and be as fluent as I would be in Esperanto after only 3 months, I would still choose Spanish. Edited by Karakorum on 17 August 2007 at 1:50am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
 Jiwon Triglot Moderator Korea, South Joined 6248 days ago 1417 posts - 1500 votes Speaks: EnglishC2, Korean*, GermanC1 Studies: Hindi, Spanish Personal Language Map | Message 71 of 140 17 August 2007 at 6:00am | IP Logged | |||||
Gosh, this is funny. One always finds people who have difficulties with understanding of written material. This isn't about expressing "opinions that differ from those proclaimed by the happy self-congratulating majority"; it's about you insulting and mocking all Esperantists out there. Personally, I don't see much point in learning Latin (which is supposed to be your native language), but this doesn't make me go and write criticisms on every single Latin thread here. Rather than thinking aloud (or thinking visible in this case) why don't you try to keep your opinions to yourself, if you cannot express them in less arrogant, offensive and more subtle way, rather than depreciating the quality of this thread? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| furyou_gaijin Senior Member Japan Joined 6198 days ago 540 posts - 631 votes Speaks: Latin* | Message 72 of 140 17 August 2007 at 6:16am | IP Logged | |||||
And my point is exactly that: making people think for themselves and not just accept prevailing opinions. Digging further into specific arguments is just one of the ways of achieving it. Seeing how this discussion has suddenly become healthier after 8 pages or so of happy comments makes me think that it hasn't been in vain. I shall no longer comment on this as really I have no personal jihad against the language - anyone curious enough to follow the old history will see how I was dragged into the discussion. Here's a brief summary of my points, though. I respect Esperanto as an intellectual achievement, for being a succesful attempt to create a sustainable language system. I dislike its sectarian nature. I do not believe it offers anything over and above natural languages. I do believe it loses out to natural languages for missing the historical value which is intrisic to natural languages. Conclusion: time is better spent learning a natural language. But don't let me stop you... (^_-)-% 1 person has voted this message useful |
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