Why do you think Esperanza never caught on?

Question

I remember when it was the rage. My friends and I could even speak a few words of it. (They're long gone now, the friends and the words!) Linguists were predicting it to be the language of the future. What do you think...?

Ooops! It is Esperanto. Esperanza is a name... Thanx for setting me straight.

Answer 1

Ho man!
Esperanto is not, I repeat NOT dead. To see that it isn't, you just have to plug it into any browser. What you will find are books in print (both translations and original material), radio polania, radio verda, and frequent transmissions from the Vatican. Yes that's right, the Vatican. Pope John Paul II called Esperanto 'The new latin'. There is some very good music by many bands these days. Try Merlin, Kajto and Kore to name just a few.
If Esperanto were to be adopted by a nation, it would seriously undermine it's purpose which is to serve as an AUXILIARY LANGUAGE. Its construction is logical and regular for a reason. It means that you and I need only sink a fraction of the time it would take me to learn your language or visa-versa. In other words, we meet as linguistic equals.
Esperanto holds observer status at the UN and UNESCO.
With over 2,000,000 speakers world wide there are few places where you can't find some speakers. You DO need to look though. PASPORTA SERVO is very useful for finding people to converse with and even visit. The sites below are also useful for that and other purposes, to name a few.
Finally there are a multitude of conventions held all over the world, with an international one held in various places each year.

Ĝis!

Answer 2

First of all it is not Esperanza but Esperanto.
It was developed in the late 1870s and early 1880s by a Polish Jew ophthalmologist, Dr. Ludovic Lazarus Zamenhof, from Poland. He lived for some time in Ukraine. After some ten years of development, which Zamenhof spent translating literature into the language as well as writing original prose and verse, the first Esperanto grammar was published in Warsaw in July 1887.

The number of speakers grew rapidly over the next few decades, at first primarily in the Russian empire and Eastern Europe, then in Western Europe and the Americas, China, and Japan. In the early years speakers of Esperanto kept in contact primarily through correspondence and periodicals, but in 1905 the first world congress of Esperanto speakers was held in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France. Since then world congresses have been held on five continents every year except during the two World Wars, and have been attended by up to 6000 people (on the average of between 2000 and 3000).

To me personally, the reason why Esperanto was not successful in becoming an international language is largely due to the fact that it is different from any other language as far as vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar are concern, and yet it has a mixture of words taken from Russian, Polish, German, and French. Each of those nationalities would not recognized it as their own, and had to spend time in learning it as any other foreign language so they do not have the love or patriotic sentiment as they have for their native languages. It was created by a single individual, which could not compete against the sentiment people have to their native tongues or mother tongues.

Naturally the loyalty of the people are stronger bound to their native countries or their mothers, not to mention about the effort that they must put in mastering it as a drawback. Another factor was they were already fluent in their own native tongues without going through that hardship of acquaring a new language that will only make one stranger by the name of Zamenhof popular instead of their native countries or nations.

The other reason is during those days there were not so many mass media venues, like today, and so there were not enough attractions and promotions for people to be interested in studying it.

If Zamenhof have been backed by a very rich country that iwas willing to spend unlimitted amount of capital for incentive, for instance by giving large amounts of money as prizes for those who can speak the language fluently, that might help to attract enough people and finally catch up worldwide.

Answer 3

Esperanto is not a natural language, it was artificially created so nobody grew up speaking it. I believe that the language you speak is a product of the culture you grew up in. Since there is no country that has chosen esperanto as its official language there is no reason for us to learn it. Language is a way to communicate with a certain culture and there is no culture that esperanto is a native tongue of.

Answer 4

Never heard of it... I know of Esperanto... Is that what you meant?
If that's the case, I think it didn't work because it's an artificial language: people didn't sing in that song, there were no books or magazines written in that language, no radio programmes, and also there was no cultural tradition attached to it.

If you were definitely talking about "Esperanza", same things apply if it was an artificial language.

Answer 5

I think most people just find it too much work to learn a new language. Nearly everyone in Europe speaks English, so what do we need a new language for? I think it's extra-difficult to learn Esperanto because there are no native speakers, no one who could help you improving it.
I think Esperanto will never be used for communication...

Answer 6

I think apathy let it go.I think Esperanto is great and when people got so caught up with there earthy desires forgot and in thoze dayz they did not have radioes. and better communication. A language to unite the world would lessen confusion and bring understanding ov eachother.

Answer 7

Languages are a living thing. They change constantly. Esperanza is a dead language.