23 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3 Next >>
Gallo1801 Diglot Senior Member Spain Joined 4900 days ago 164 posts - 248 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Arabic (Written), Croatian, German, French
| Message 1 of 23 19 March 2012 at 3:01pm | IP Logged |
Not to discount its status as a full blown language, just from what I've heard, because
of how easy it is supposed to be to learn, Esperanto in my opinion would not constitute
learning a full language, but more of a half-language. My interest in it has been
reawakened, and I am thinking of studying it, but I am already on a study regimen.
Could I add some Esperanto study alongside my Croatian and French without it being much
of a problem? I'd say that it would be like learning 2.5 languages (again, not to
discredit the die-hard Esperantists out there; part of the reason Esperanto is cool is
that it's easy.)
1 person has voted this message useful
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6437 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese
| Message 2 of 23 19 March 2012 at 3:28pm | IP Logged |
Try it and see?
3 persons have voted this message useful
| Michael K. Senior Member United States Joined 5727 days ago 568 posts - 886 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto
| Message 3 of 23 19 March 2012 at 5:35pm | IP Logged |
Write a 500 page book or give an hour long lecture in Esperanto, then you can tell us whether learning Esperanto is only learning "half a language."
You will still need to take studying Esperanto seriously. I don't find it easy, but it is very regular. Some say it only takes 6 weeks of full-time study to be conversational in the language, or that it can be learned 10 times faster than a natural language. I'm studying it for 6 weeks to see how far I get.
I'd also say learn it for the culture and community (the same reasons you'd learn any other language), not just because it's easy. I think you'd get bored if you learned it just because it's easy.
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| vermillon Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4676 days ago 602 posts - 1042 votes Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, German
| Message 4 of 23 19 March 2012 at 6:02pm | IP Logged |
Michael K. wrote:
Write a 500 page book or give an hour long lecture in Esperanto, then you can tell us whether learning Esperanto is only learning "half a language." |
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I would probably not even do that in my native language!
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| Cabaire Senior Member Germany Joined 5597 days ago 725 posts - 1352 votes
| Message 5 of 23 19 March 2012 at 6:39pm | IP Logged |
I must admit that I feel a bit like that too. I never seriously studied Esperanto, there was no toiling at all. Many years ago, after a brief look at grammar I started reading simple texts with a dictionary, then a short novel (la malsana kiso), then a long novel (la senĉesa historio). Sometimes I read a book for leisure (now "la ŝtona urbo"). Maybe if you get something without any effort, you don't value it high enough. It's a nice language, I like its structure and the idea behind the project, but it never was a callenge, something to aspire to. To be honest, it was "a side dish", but a tasty one.
PS. Active skills are of course another piece of cake, as Michael mentioned.
Edited by Cabaire on 19 March 2012 at 6:42pm
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Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6701 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map
| Message 6 of 23 19 March 2012 at 6:59pm | IP Logged |
You shouldn't take Esperanto too lightly. I once made a video in Esperanto, and when I listened to it I discovered that I had forgotten at least half the accusative markers (-n). Even the fact there ARE accusative markers is a sign that Esperanto isn't just something you learn to speak between lunch and diner.
Edited by Iversen on 19 March 2012 at 7:00pm
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| Gallo1801 Diglot Senior Member Spain Joined 4900 days ago 164 posts - 248 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Arabic (Written), Croatian, German, French
| Message 7 of 23 19 March 2012 at 7:09pm | IP Logged |
Well the whole reason for learning it is communication with other speakers. I usually
don't learn languages just for the academic pursuit. They also serve to better connect
humanity.
Hmm... I'll have to do some searching and see if I can put it in my schedule. I never
thought it'd be that useful in the US, but since I'm going to be in Europe for a while, I
figure my chances of using it during my travels will be much greater. As a native
English speaker, I'd love to be on equal ground for once.
1 person has voted this message useful
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6595 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish
| Message 8 of 23 19 March 2012 at 7:42pm | IP Logged |
I've spent some nice time with Esperanto, because I had heard that language learning gets easier after 5, and I was only any good in three. I never reached fluency but it was indeed a good investment nevertheless.
I think as of now Esperanto has fulfilled its role in my life. I kinda have a vague feeling that I'll get back to it eventually.
I recommend considering toki pona as well. Maybe it's just my impression but you seem to consider Esperanto boringly easy. Toki pona is also easy, but it's an insight into how some very different languages work (like Indonesian). It's the easiest mind-blowing experience you can get in language learning :)
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