Thoughts on Esperanto?

Question

Okay, so I know there are some people here who fervently support Esperanto and some who hate the idea.

I always thought that part of learning a language is to learn about a different culture, ways of thinking, etc. If you learn Swahili, for example, you will also learn about the people and cultures that speak it. However, Esperanto doesn't have that association. It's history lies in linguists rather than society...

Also, I always feel like there are so many dying languages out there that it is sad to see people learning Esperanto when REAL languages could be saved!

So what do you think? You don't have to agree with me, just explain your thoughts!

Answer 1

Believe it or not, Esperanto represents the best chance for the survival of the multitude of dying languages since it's purpose is to forestall the monopoly of any one National tongue to the disadvantage of another.
Consider if you will, Esperanto is an easily learnt AUXILIARY language. This means that myself and that Spanish fellow over there needn't sink a lot of time and effort into learning each others mother tongue, where whose ever tongue we settle to communicate in will hold the advantage in any discussions; since the likelihood of having a mastery of the second language will be remote at best. Each partner has exerted a similar effort in order to communicate; a linguisticly neutral hand shake if you will.
Further, I am now in a position to visit just about every country in the world and with the help of my new found Esperanto speaking friend (2 million plus) learn of his / her culture and language. This second facet is possible because in learning Esperanto I now have a firmer grip on linguistic principles. I will provide a link below on the benefits of learning tertiary languages after Esperanto.
However, if it is Esperanto Culture you desire, then you've no need to look much further than the Internet. In music there are Folk, Jazz, Opera, Rock, Hip Hop, Rap, childrens' songs, etc. In literature there is multinational translations plus original works. The yearly Congresses are a play ground for young and old alike for interaction.
The error it seems that most people make, is the assumption that a focus on one area or language will detract from other areas. Although it may be true to a point, it is extremely unlikely to effect an area to the point of destruction. There are simply too many people in the world to allow that to happen. None of this precludes learning another language.
Conversely, nobody would feel forced to learn it, especially if they've no desire to leave their comfort zone.
The fact is that like it or not, it's use is expanding exponentially. The last educated guess puts the number of functionally fluent speakers at 2 million plus and another 2,000 native speakers (those that were born to an Esperanto household; yes they exist).
Yet many feel almost threatened by it, which is the last intent to be feared. It is simply a tool to allow those that might otherwise struggle to learn a new language, the option of expanding their horizons.
Finally, there is currently $600 million plus a year being spent on translation services at the UN, and a similar amount in the EU, because no one nationality wants to loose the prestige of owning one of the 'working' languages in each of those institutions. This a huge waste of resources that might otherwise go to feeding and housing those less fortunate. A single working language, easily learnt (less than a year to become fluent) would certainly go along way towards that goal.
Research and make your own conclusions.

Gxis!

Answer 2

I am fluent in Esperanto. When I first began learning it, I would have agreed with you if I had given it any thought. I failed first-year Spanish in high school, and for the next 24 years I thought I could not learn any foreign language. I began learning Esperanto purely as a linguistic experiment. I wanted to know if I could learn another language. The experiment was a success. I learned Esperanto, and that gave me the confidence to study other languages.

Anyone who thinks Esperanto has no culture is making uninformed assumptions. Esperanto has a beautifully diverse international culture held together via the Internet and a common language. We (Esperantists) have our own music, our own literature. Esperantists have even recently released a full-length motion picture completely in Esperanto made by Imagu Films from Brazil.

Esperanto's history has little to do with linguists. It was created by a young (16 year-old ) Polish man who was fed up with the multi-lingual hatred in his multi-cultural home town, and he had a theory that a common 2nd language was what was needed to bring peace, and endeavored to create one. It took him decades. When he completed his work and released it, he had finished Medical School, and was married.

As for your statement about dying languages. In my opinion it's the superpower languages like English, whose motto is "speak our language or we won't do business with you", which is more responsible for the death of languages than Esperanto. The Esperanto community encourages the use of Esperanto as a common second language, and the preservation of the native languages.

Esperanto is like a linguistic handshake. Nobody expecting everyone else to learn "my" language, but meeting half way by speaking an easy to learn, concise, clear, practically idiom free common second language.

Learning Esperanto has given me a window into many different cultures. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Answer 3

Someday, a modified and simpler form of Esperanto could become the international language. Ludwig Zamenhoff seems to have been on the right track when he invented it in 1887. He invited criticism of his project so that he could improve it but sadly, no one responded.

Studying constructed languages like Esperanto, Ido, Interlingua, Novial, Loglan, NiuTeutonish etc. is not a waste of time even if few, if any, people speak them. You can actually improve the quality of your English grammar and composition by studying them. This is because you learn about things like adverbs, prepositions, transitive and intransitive verbs, direct and indirect objects, and how to get subjects to agree with their verbs and objects.

A constructed language also provides a window to a different world view and a different way of thinking. The inventors of all constructed languages were influenced by their native languages: Italian in the case of Peano and Interlingua, Danish in the case of Jespersen and Novial, Norwegian in the case of Molee and Niu-Teutonish, and Russian & Polish in the case of Zamenhoff and Esperanto.

Loglan, invented in the 1960's, is a constructed language based on sounds common to the 6 (eight) languages of the world with the largest speaking populations: English, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Hindi. It has a grammar based entirely on formal and symbolic logic. Most of us believe that we think logically. It is when you study a language like Loglan that you realize "Hey! We actually don't think very logically" in our native languages. Human beings, generally speaking, don't seem to like very logical languages.

Answer 4

I agree with your thoughts on Esperanto and could add another disadvantage. It's no ones native language, so both speakers would be speaking a foreign language.

Answer 5

Esperanto is a failure ,one cannot invent languages .
it has and will never work.-
English is the most Universal language ,wether you like it or not ,Spanish is next