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Why learn Esperanto? | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Esperanto |  | |
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6440 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes  Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 129 of 140 21 August 2009 at 11:11pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
My native language is English; I understand the difference between "a" and "the sufficiently, thank you. The distinction would be relevant in some cases; this is not one of them. The problem is in the word "universal", not in the article.
We fully agree on this point. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| ennime Tetraglot Senior Member South Africa universityofbrokengl Joined 5905 days ago 397 posts - 507 votes Speaks: English, Dutch*, Esperanto, Afrikaans Studies: Xhosa, French, Korean, Portuguese, Zulu | Message 130 of 140 22 August 2009 at 1:49am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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Okay I'm going to ignore better part of this thread and just post an opinion about the original "why" question...
I've learned Esperanto for the simple reason that I could, had some time to spare and thought it would be a curious experience to learn a planned language. I do believe that it's not as easy to learn as some people say it is, it depends on whether you speak certain Indo-European languages or not. Also the pronounciation can be a challenge if your language doesn't have those specific consonants in it's sound inventory. But the basics are easier to learn than natural languages. Now the thing about any language is that it's alive, and what I've observed is that Esperanto is taking on increasingly those aspects of a language that makes it hard to learn (idioms, nuance, etc.). It be interesting what Esperanto would turn out to be in another hundred years as communication within the movement increases so much with the internet compared to when it was created, it might just had all those problems that many "natural languages" have... Who knows? I'm not all a "Fin Venko" proponent, at least not how it's proposed by UEA and many Esperantists these days. Although I do think ik can act as a helpful tool between groups who don't have another language in common, as it can be learned more quickly. As for propedeutic value of Esperanto, I think for those first time language learners it might take away the threshold of learning a language first time. For those with experience in learning languages I'd think it wouldn't help or change that much... 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| zooplah Diglot Senior Member United States zooplah.farvista.net Joined 6369 days ago 100 posts - 116 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto Studies: German | Message 131 of 140 09 September 2009 at 7:26am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
1) You could learn both Hebrew and Esperanto. I think it goes without saying that you'd learn Esperanto in a fraction of the time and you'd be well on your way to other languages. 2) There's no such thing as a natural language. No one knows when languages sprang up, but it is known that their no intrinsic to human beings and that all vocal organs have a different primary purpose. 3) What language isn't "cultish"? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| zooplah Diglot Senior Member United States zooplah.farvista.net Joined 6369 days ago 100 posts - 116 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto Studies: German | Message 132 of 140 18 September 2009 at 3:54am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
First, if you are to compare Esperanto to a Jewish language, it should be Yiddish. Second, are you sure it sounds artificial? Are you sure you don't mean it sounds foreign and you're just letting your prejudice translate that as "artificial"? Personally, I love how Esperanto sounds. The -oj endings sound so much better than the hard z sounds of English et al. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 6035 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes 5 sounds | Message 133 of 140 18 September 2009 at 5:07am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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My "expert" opinion on the question is that learning Esperanto is worth it only if you enjoy it ;-P. This could be motivated by a desire to communicate in a "universal language" (whatever that means), linguistic curiosity or a want to be offbeat.
The argument that Esperanto helps with learning other languages is questionable. In my opinion it would be a redundant step that delays the real thing. Also, Esperanto-bashing is the favourite spare time activity of many more than the 2 million speakers. Those who study it must prepare to be evangelists of a sort ^_^. It's not something for the feeble hearted. Edited by Sennin on 18 September 2009 at 5:16am 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| J-Learner Senior Member Australia Joined 6031 days ago 556 posts - 636 votes Studies: Yiddish, English* Studies: Dutch | Message 134 of 140 18 September 2009 at 8:24am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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I think every language learnt is another tool in the communicative tool-belt.
Enough said in my mind. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| pauswa Newbie United States paulaesperanto.wordp Joined 6293 days ago 1 posts - 2 votes Studies: Esperanto | Message 135 of 140 20 September 2009 at 12:20am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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If it sounds "bland and artificial" and "just sounds wrong to you," then don't bother learning it. You should like the language you study, or it's a waste of time for you. Most of the people who learned Esperanto did so because they enjoyed learning it.
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 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5848 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 136 of 140 21 September 2009 at 8:44pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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Why learn Esperanto?
Let me give some plausible answers to this question. I am not an ideologically oriented person, so the "interna ideo" of Ludoviko Zamenhof had nothing to do with my motivation to learn the language. To be very honest, I never beleived that Esperanto may become the world language and I still find this vision unrealistic. Esperanto has a simplified and logical grammar structure, I found this interesting because I like logically structured languages. I didn't have the possiblity to travel far and I was looking for international contacts - especially with the Netherlands. I was looking for penfriends and I always liked being in groups, for example as a weekend trip. And I was very curious to explore how an artificial language would function as a means of communication. And then - in 1992 - I discovered that five minutes away from my house - there was an Esperanto group meeting once a week - and their meetings were free of charge. So I wanted to explore that further... Luckily I found an old Esperantist who was willing to give me - voluntarily - private Esperanto lessons. Having learned the language, I discovered the following personal advantages of it: 1. Esperanto - being an easy language - can be learned much quicker than some European languages, I had already learned. 2. For international communication usage Esperanto is a neutral language. 3. Esperanto courses are often very cheap and therefore accessible to poor people. 4. Esperanto offers many group meetings or group weekends - often with foreign visitors or lecturers from foreign countries. 5. There's "Pasporta Servo" which offers Esperanto-travelling staying in host families free of charge all over the world 6. There's "Koresponda Servo Mondskala" which offers addresses of possible penfriends for Esperanto correspondence (at low costs!) 7. Esperantists have the reputation of being open-minded. 8. There are some ideologists in the Esperanto-movement, but it's not the majority. 9. Esperanto is the artificial language which has the biggest community of speakers. Adding all there points together it gives me enough motivation and the conclusion that it has been a good choice for me to learn Esperanto. I see only one main disadvantage of Esperanto: It's a real hobby-language, that means it is almost impossible to use it professionally and to earn money with it. Fasulye Edited by Fasulye on 21 September 2009 at 10:46pm 4 persons have voted this message useful |
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