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World linguistic problems

 Language Learning Forum : Esperanto Post Reply
30 messages over 4 pages: 1 2 3
tpark
Tetraglot
Pro Member
Canada
Joined 6856 days ago

118 posts - 127 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Dutch, French
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 Message 25 of 30
25 August 2009 at 5:42am | IP Logged 
toobiz wrote:
Woodpecker wrote:
I took it. However, I would advise you to carefully consider whether you want to use it in an MA thesis. Your sampling method is very unscientific.


What do you mean?...


You have asked individuals who are likely to be language learners to participate in your survey. It is possible that the selection of respondents that you get will be quite different from a random selection. Even so, it may still be possible to draw conclusions from the information that you receive.   I've seen some good work from people who have studied prostitute health system utilization from a mobile health van, and someone who worked with a small group of immersion students who went on to study the French language at a university level. The writing I saw was interesting and informative. Good luck with your research!

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Talairan
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Spain
Joined 6402 days ago

194 posts - 258 votes 
Speaks: Afrikaans, English*, Gypsy/Romani, Dutch
Studies: Spanish, Flemish, Galician, Aramaic

 
 Message 26 of 30
26 August 2009 at 2:26pm | IP Logged 
And completed.
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LazyLinguist
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5413 days ago

105 posts - 125 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 27 of 30
30 August 2009 at 10:11pm | IP Logged 
Completed
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zooplah
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
zooplah.farvista.net
Joined 6178 days ago

100 posts - 116 votes 
Speaks: English*, Esperanto
Studies: German

 
 Message 28 of 30
09 September 2009 at 6:08am | IP Logged 
toobiz wrote:


- I analyze the state of affairs as it is today (English as a dominant language in international relations, economy, education, media, communications) and contrast it with an alternative solution - Esperanto.

Esperanto is clearly the better choice for international communication--it's easier, more neutral, and more flexible--but it has a terrible chicken/egg problem (not to mention the psychological reactions to it).
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Choscura
Diglot
Groupie
United States
Joined 5358 days ago

61 posts - 82 votes 
Speaks: English*, Thai

 
 Message 29 of 30
27 September 2009 at 7:14pm | IP Logged 
The problem with Esperanto, from what I've seen, is that it's an inefficient language. In German, everything is exact, precise, every idea has a word- in Thai, the same type of thing, every idea has it's case (usually a short anecdotal description), and in these languages a lot can be communicated very fast because of this complexity. In Thai at the very least it has a very definite meaning depending on whether you speak 'high' or 'low' Thai. I've said this before, and I know I'll say it again- Thai is very efficient and compact, at least for social interaction. You can determine after maybe 3-4 sentences a very exact picture of the relationship between two people when they're speaking.

So for esperanto... Why would any highly developed language give up this clarity, especially now that the tools of near-instant coherent translation are just beginning to become widely available?
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lackinglatin
Triglot
Groupie
United States
randomwritingsetc.blRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5790 days ago

62 posts - 146 votes 
Speaks: English*, Esperanto, Modern Hebrew
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 30 of 30
06 March 2010 at 4:53am | IP Logged 
Because that 'near instant coherent translation' isn't nearly as close as it looks... and exists for only a small portion of the biggest world languages, if any at all. While we've gotten down a decent chunk of the translation problem, quality machine translation, as I understand it, doesn't really have any breakthroughs to be seen other than lots of hard work. :\

What's more, translation is never perfect, and to be useful on an everyday level, at a level for relationships, is doubtful to ever come to pass. When it would come to implementation, assuming the technology exists--which it currently doesn't--it either is too expensive or too cumbersome to make relationship possible.

Esperanto bypasses those problems in a much cheaper, efficient way.

As far as your perceived 'problem' with Esperanto... Many people like to criticize Esperanto, but few really understand the language. I hear lots of armchair experts who've read a bit and have a strong opinion about it. I'd like to see them learn it themselves before professing to be an expert on it, as few people (I don't know any?) who learn it actually walk away thinking that it's critically flawed. The critics all seem to be theoreticians, and I've read and talked through a lot of it.


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