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World languages vs esperanto | ||
Tags: Esperanto | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Esperanto |  | |
| aberfitch1892 Newbie United States Joined 6287 days ago 15 posts - 15 votes Speaks: German Studies: French Studies: Haitian Creole | Message 1 of 7 23 September 2007 at 1:11am | IP Logged | ||
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The "big" language debate!
I would like to know everyone's opinion on esperanto. I don't like it, because it lacks culture. even if it does become the "next" language it'll find a way to seperate. all languages do....hence Latin. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Frisco Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6860 days ago 380 posts - 398 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Norwegian, Italian, Turkish, Mandarin | Message 2 of 7 23 September 2007 at 2:27am | IP Logged | ||
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I suppose you could argue that it's better to contribute to the creation of a culture rather than just leeching off one that already exists. As for the "separation", it's not like that's going to happen within any of our lifetimes if it does.
I don't study Esperanto and I'm not sure I ever will, but I don't know why so much venom is directed at it. Esperanto isn't even close to replacing all world languages and I don't think that was ever its purpose in the first place. It's a constructed language that's easy to learn and has a community you can be a part of. If you're not interested, study another language. But I'm willing to bet that being accepted into a community that is bound by a natural language is a bit harder than being accepted into the Esperanto community. I'm studying Chinese, but I will never be considered Chinese no matter how well I speak the language. However if I learned Esperanto, I would likely be welcomed as a fellow Esperantist. It's an open society (for now). Edited by Frisco on 23 September 2007 at 2:29am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fanatic Octoglot Senior Member Australia speedmathematics.com Joined 7150 days ago 1152 posts - 1818 votes Speaks: English*, German, French, Afrikaans, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch Studies: Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Modern Hebrew, Malay, Mandarin, Esperanto | Message 3 of 7 23 September 2007 at 2:39am | IP Logged | ||
Absolutely right. Everyone is a foreigner when it comes to speaking Esperanto. Everyone is on the same level. Everyone is helpful because everyone has been in the position of a beginning learner. And the free resources on the Internet are amazing. You won't get the same encouragement when studying any other language. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sprachprofi Nonaglot Senior Member Germany learnlangs.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6474 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 4 of 7 23 September 2007 at 2:53am | IP Logged | ||
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Even though it's only little more than 100 years old, Esperanto does have culture already: literature, poetry, music, plays, films, traditions, sayings... for example, see the links I put in the Links forum. Esperanto culture is a very unique culture, inspired both by the very different cultural backgrounds of its speakers as well as the common spirit of international friendship.
I believe that Esperanto will not split anytime soon, because unlike with a natural language, nobody has the right to start pronouncing words differently for example, everybody learns exactly the same and the sounds are very distinct to start with. Most Esperanto speakers have some kind of accent, but that has never hindered communication - even the people at the first meeting in 1905, scholars who each had learned the language from books only, were able to understand each other. By the end of that meeting, their accents were already converging. Also, Esperanto's core was written down in the Fundamento and nothing in there may ever be changed - another influence towards stability that natural languages don't have. Anyway, we'll see. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| masoris Diglot Groupie Korea, South Joined 6294 days ago 48 posts - 52 votes Speaks: Korean*, English Studies: Esperanto, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 5 of 7 23 September 2007 at 3:40am | IP Logged | ||
I strongly agree with this opinion. Esperanto has very unique and attractive culture, that only Esperantist can be experience. That is reason why I learn Esperanto. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| awake Senior Member United States Joined 6640 days ago 406 posts - 438 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Esperanto, Spanish | Message 6 of 7 23 September 2007 at 3:50pm | IP Logged | ||
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Another thing that keeps Esperanto from splitting is the fact that the very purpose of Esperanto is International
communication. Changes that would hinder that purpose are generally rejected by the Esperanto community. As a result of this internal pressure, Esperanto has remained remarkably consistent over the past Century. Sometimes people (usually who have only studied it a few weeks) propose reforms which they think will "fix" their perceived problems with Esperanto. Usually, those reforms are soundly rejected by the Esperanto community (for a variety of reasons). That's not to say that Esperanto doesn't grow or evolve. It's a living, growing language. it's usage and vocabulary are constantly changing and growing. But it tends to grow in an organic way that preserves its nature rather than fractures it. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| sumabeast Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6930 days ago 212 posts - 220 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written) | Message 7 of 7 25 September 2007 at 2:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think the main thing keeping Esperanto from splitting, is that it is not the national or natural language anywhere or of any group of people on Earth. Also it is not spoken in any signgificant geographic cluster anywhere, which would permit large groups of speakers within a confined area to begin to develp their own unique pronounciations or grammars.
So long as Esperanto's speakers are scattered about in small numbers this will remain the situation I believe. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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