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Why Esperanto | ||
Tags: Esperanto | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Esperanto |  | |
| rafaelrbp Pentaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 7017 days ago 181 posts - 201 votes  Speaks: Portuguese*, Spanish, English, French, Italian Studies: German | Message 17 of 33 04 April 2006 at 2:00pm | IP Logged | |||||
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If Esperanto or any other artificial language were adopted as an official language (to Europe Union or US, etc), as a trading/politics language or whatever status it needs...
Then, it would be teached as a second language in most schools. So, after some years, a lot of really proficient people would emerge. This "artificial language" is also capable of evolving, so it would gradually become a natural language, or something close to one. I don't know why some people are STRONGLY against artificial languages. I think it's a better thing then imposing someone's language over others. Anyway, I don't like the whole bunch of Esperanto new letters, and there are other problems too. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| jdanfo Diglot Newbie United States Joined 6889 days ago 11 posts - 13 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Studies: Latin | Message 18 of 33 04 April 2006 at 3:06pm | IP Logged | |||||
That's really the only point the Esperantists make, which makes any sense. The problem with promoting Esperanto as a solution, to this specific issue, is the existence of other languages which aren't spoken any longer, and which have a long and rich history, historiography and literature. Classical Latin and Attic Greek are spoken as a first language by nobody today, they both have a rich corpus of literary works, and are spoken as a second language by many (Classical Greek probably has tens of thousands of proficient speakers; Latin, millions). In order to make Esperanto, or any other constructed language, viable as an IAL, you need a body of clever users to write interesting literature that non-speakers will want to read. This will spur the acceptance of the language, and will motivate new users to spread it to others via periodicals and gatherings. People don't learn languages to talk to total strangers, they learn languages to read great works of literature, to communicate with their neighbors, or to communicate with *specific* interesting people. Nor do people learn languages simply to talk to themselves (and if they did, there are better languages to learn than Espo. Lojban comes to mind). It's the whole chicken/egg argument. Edited by jdanfo on 04 April 2006 at 3:12pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| lady_skywalker Triglot Senior Member Netherlands aspiringpolyglotblog Joined 6894 days ago 909 posts - 942 votes Speaks: Spanish, English*, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, French, Dutch, Italian | Message 19 of 33 04 April 2006 at 10:05pm | IP Logged | |||||
I don't have anything against artificial languages per se but I don't see why Esperantists get so smug at times with people who don't have any interest in the language. I can see why many people think it's a good idea and I can see where the practicalities of the language lie but I feel like they're trying to push the language on me and find this a little irritating. Is it wrong that I'd rather focus on 'real' (ie.natural) languages instead? Also, I don't think institutions like the EU need Esperanto. There'd be hundreds of translators and interpreters out of a job (even if it would save the EU millions of Euros a year). Plus many citizens end up learning either English, French or German at school anyway and these do happen to be the main working languages of the EU. But that's just my opinion. I'll let the Esperantists have their dreams if they want. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6872 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language | Message 20 of 33 04 April 2006 at 10:14pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I've never tried to push Esperanto on anyone. I've never met another Esperantist (excluding via chatrooms), so I don't think I can adequately address the smug issue. I agree that it's a dream. What bothers me is that when I mention that I have studied Esperanto, I get the impression that people think that learning a constructed language is hokey or a waste of time. It's just a hobby. I don't expect to see Esperanto ever come to the level of use that Zamenhof intended, but even so, I still support people learning language itself, the same as I support people writing poetry or learning to paint, etc. Personally, I'd be glad that Esperanto remains unassociated with the UN or EU. Even though I admire Esperanto and enjoy being able to use it, I'll always be partial to the more naturally evolved languages.
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| 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 21 of 33 05 April 2006 at 12:26am | IP Logged | |||||
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I do think I detect a critical note in some of the posts about Esperanto. Why worry what language anyone learns? I wouldn't criticize anyone for learning a language that doesn't interest me. There are more than enough languages to go around. I don't think there are compelling reasons to learn Esperanto apart from the wealth of information and resources for anyone wishing to do so. I am playing with learning the language but Esperanto is low in my priorities. I am not particularly interested in learning the languages of the American Indians or the Australian aborigines because I have no personal use for them. But I know that this is the life work of a lot of people.
When I lived for a year in New Zealand I learnt some of the Maori language. I have no use for it now so I haven't continued. I have books about a number of languages I have never studied beyond just reading the introduction, seeing how words are pronounced and some basics of grammar. I just play with them. That is how I am currently treating Esperanto except that I would like to pass a test in Esperanto by correspondence. If I find that I can speak and understand the language with a minimum of effort like they claim, then I might take it further. I didn't choose to learn Russian because I needed the language but because it was cheap and available. The fact that there are many classics in the language was a bonus. How many of us study Icelandic because we need it? Edited by fanatic on 05 April 2006 at 12:27am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| frenkeld Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6947 days ago 2042 posts - 2719 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German | Message 22 of 33 05 April 2006 at 6:28am | IP Logged | |||||
Is this an argument for or against? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| lady_skywalker Triglot Senior Member Netherlands aspiringpolyglotblog Joined 6894 days ago 909 posts - 942 votes Speaks: Spanish, English*, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, French, Dutch, Italian | Message 23 of 33 05 April 2006 at 7:33am | IP Logged | |||||
Against. While it would save the EU lots of money, it would be a shame to have to sack so many people. Being a translator myself, I would hate to see this happen to people who put years of hard study and work into learning languages. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Andy E Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 7107 days ago 1651 posts - 1939 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 24 of 33 05 April 2006 at 7:35am | IP Logged | |||||
I absolutely agree. I would no more criticise someone for learning Esperanto than I would if they decided to learn Elvish, Klingon or even Icelandic... :¬) Whatever floats your boat as they say. I've got enough on my own plate without worrying about someone else's .
Well, I'm not sure that's true at all. I, for one, definitely don't learn languages to read great works of literature. I learn them to communicate with people and I do that regardless of whether they're total strangers, neighbours or specifically interesting. Andy. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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