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Constructed Languages | ||
Tags: Conlang | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Radioclare Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom timeofftakeoff.com Joined 4585 days ago 689 posts - 1119 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Esperanto Studies: Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian | Message 9 of 25 13 September 2014 at 11:10pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I know someone who learned Slovio but it didn't seem to be very successful when he tried
using it in practice. He experimented with approaching people in it (in his Slavic home country) and his experience was that they mostly just dismissed him and thought "That isn't a Slavic language I speak". He was a bit frustrated, because he knew they could actually have understood him if they'd had the patience to listen properly. I have met some people who describe themselves as being Volapükists but I have not met anyone who can spontaneously string together more than a sentence of Volapük, so I remain extremely unconvinced that it works as a language. My boyfriend and I have a (derogatory) word to describe people like one of those in the first thread Chung linked to - "Espervangelists"! 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5132 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 10 of 25 14 September 2014 at 2:20am | IP Logged | |||||
What does that even mean, either in the context of a constructed language or a natural one? R. == 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Radioclare Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom timeofftakeoff.com Joined 4585 days ago 689 posts - 1119 votes Speaks: English*, German, Esperanto Studies: Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian | Message 11 of 25 14 September 2014 at 8:11am | IP Logged | |||||
I think he meant that when he spoke to people they just automatically thought "This person isn't speaking my language, therefore I can't understand him" and walked away, whereas presumably if they had listened to him more attentively or for a longer period of time, they would have thought "This might not be my language but actually I can guess what that word, that word and that word mean, because they're very similar in my language". 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6911 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 12 of 25 14 September 2014 at 6:01pm | IP Logged | |||||
Esperanto is probably the most popular conlang on HTLAL (some members are highly proficient speakers), and also the only conlang I've had a proper look at. I may have written a few negative posts over the years, but now when I've spent some time immersing myself in Irish (another language which doesn't have that many speakers you're likely to bump into randomly), I'm not the right person to criticize those who want to live and breath Esperanto. Hey, I'm even going to Berlin to take an intensive weekend course! Any language serves a purpose if there are speakers who make use of it, just as any language can be a waste of time if you'll never use it. Edited by jeff_lindqvist on 15 September 2014 at 10:29pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5132 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 13 of 25 14 September 2014 at 6:32pm | IP Logged | |||||
I get that, I suppose, but... Personally, if I'm going to learn a language, constructed or natural, it's with the intent of being understood and communicating with other people. The onus is on me to make myself understood. While I suppose he learned Slovio with that in mind, there's no guarantee that any random person on the street would listen or take the time to try to listen. At least with Esperanto, you know that you're getting a community with the language and therefore someone to speak with and be understood. I don't think you could reasonably expect someone to start speaking Esperanto in the street to a Western European and have them understand you. R. == Edited by hrhenry on 14 September 2014 at 6:33pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Medulin Tetraglot Senior Member Croatia Joined 4670 days ago 1199 posts - 2192 votes Speaks: Croatian*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Norwegian, Hindi, Nepali | Message 14 of 25 14 September 2014 at 6:34pm | IP Logged | |||||
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The only constructed language I like is Nynorsk.
3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Xenops Senior Member United States thexenops.deviantart Joined 3827 days ago 112 posts - 158 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Japanese | Message 15 of 25 15 September 2014 at 12:39am | IP Logged | |||||
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I saw the topic of this post and I thought "must...Post".
It is because of J.R.R. Tolkien and his "fake" Elvish languages that I grew to love languages in general, both natural and artificial. I did do a few snail-mail correspondence lessons in Esperanto some years ago, but because my linguistic knowledge was limited to Spanish, I found the "exotic" grammar confusing and halted the project. Probably if I attempted again I would have better success. I also appreciate the construction of languages to aid in the "world building" of a speculative story. While Tolkien did the reverse and created a world for his tongues, speculative stories (i.e. science fiction, fantasy) have an added richness if there is a language specific for the fantastic culture. Other attributes to well-developed "worlds" include history, economics, agriculture, geography, government, rules of magic, etc. I put "Lord of the Rings" in the language, history and geography categories, "Hunger Games" in government, economics and agriculture categories and the manga "Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin)" in government and technology. The more developed your speculative story is in this catagories, the more "plausible" they seem, and the more enjoyable. :) While I confess I'm more interested in constructing my own language rather than learning that of someone else, I definitely applaud the endeavor. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| robarb Nonaglot Senior Member United States languagenpluson Joined 5061 days ago 361 posts - 921 votes Speaks: Portuguese, English*, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, French Studies: Mandarin, Danish, Russian, Norwegian, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Greek, Latin, Nepali, Modern Hebrew | Message 16 of 25 15 September 2014 at 8:29pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Conlangs are almost useless if your goal is to be able to communicate with people. While a decent number of people
know Esperanto, almost all of them also know English. The kind of people who would not speak English also don't tend to learn Esperanto. Esperanto is also pretty bad for talking about people on the bus. You don't want to be overheard calling someone an "idioto" or a "kreteno." On the other hand, you can use Esperanto to meet people on the Internet or at conventions, so it can be a decent social hobby. It's not hard to learn if you already have a European language, and probably has some benefits for further language learning. I found it was worthwhile to learn Esperanto simply as a way to gain insight into the Esperanto/international auxiliary language phenomenon, especially since I didn't have to invest that much time into it. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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