Has the age of artificial languages past?

Question

Is it a lost cause nowadays to promote an artificial language, particularly a new one? If it is not a lost cause, at least among language enthusiasts, is there a great way to reach all those enthusiasts? Language mailing lists I have found reach a few hundred people at most.

Answer 1

Every activity has its fans, and this activity has me for sure. I speak Esperanto and I very much enjoy the time I 'waste' on it. I have friends all over the world as a result of this 'lost cause'. Just me and 2 million of my closest friends bother with it. Of course I may be wrong about that number, since they more-or-less ascertained that that was the number of functional speakers around 1995. Since that point the Internet has really blossomed, and Esperanto right along with it. In a recent reprint of the Unua Libro (First Book), Gene Keyes the editor said that in 2000 when he first started the project, a search for Esperanto on Google yielded 1 million hits. When he published it in February of 2007, the same search yielded 34 million hits. Shortly there after I searched for it and found 39.2 million hits. An increase of 5 million in the space of 2 months.
The real question for any artificial language is "What's its purpose?"
Esperanto is designed to be an easily learnt AUXILIARY language, such that you and me and the other guy over there needed sink a lot of time into learning a language that we will most likely never fully assimilate like a native. It doesn't stop us from trying of course. Personally I fully encourage people to learn new languages.
So the phenomina is growing, slowly (but faster by contrast to its 120 year history). Every year, there is a huge congress held somewhere in the world, and every day there are meetings taking place someplace in the world, solely in Esperanto. Not an interpreter to be found anywhere.
Esperanto holds observer status class 'B' at the UN and UNESCO, which is where the real power of Esperanto comes in. Since the UN and EU spend more than $600 million yearly each for translation services, it is difficult to argue that a single working language, in which people can become fluent within a year, would not help in providing understanding where it is most sorely needed, in international communication and understanding.
If you would like a view of what translation services are like at the UN, I suggest that you read any of the number of articles written by a former UN translator, Claude Piron. It's an eye opener.

I suggest that you research and explore the language and history yourself. Draw your own conclusions.

Ĝis!

Answer 2

It approach they're my loved ones by means of God's windfall and now not by means of blood. When our valuable little granddaughter died 30 days in the past at present, they have been there for us each and every step of the way in which. They adored our daughter they usually adored her daughter. They offered meals for us, watched her different daughter for her so she would be on the health center, prepared our 18-yr-ancient's commencement social gathering for us in view that we simply could not at the moment and gave cash for our daughter to have a fairly fine memorial for her child. I realize that I would name any person of them, night time or day, and if I wanted support, that man or woman might drop the whole thing and are available and support me. I appear ahead to seeing your Mr. Henderson in eternity as good as our valuable child. Wishing you good.

Answer 3

No, it is not past, because it never was. Feel free to create and promote your artificial language, but such languages tend to be inferior to natural languages and far less prevalent. Still, they can be fun and sometimes useful to their users.

Answer 4

Everyone should speak English or French, it would make communication a lot easier.

Answer 5

sounds like a timewaster

Answer 6

no, i'm sure everything has its adepts