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Practicality of Esperanto | ||
Tags: Usefulness | Esperanto | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Esperanto |  | |
| zerothinking Senior Member Australia Joined 6169 days ago 528 posts - 772 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 17 of 28 25 December 2010 at 4:52am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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No. You'd be better off sticking with Polish and maybe tweaking your method. You want to
speak Polish after all. But it might just be a matter of time. Languages simply take time. You're going to feel like you suck for a while and that's normal. You shouldn't feel bad about it and you shouldn't force fluency just let it happen. In any case, Esperanto is easy to learn and somewhat useful. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| Enriquee Triglot Groupie United States esperantofre.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5132 days ago 51 posts - 125 votes Speaks: Spanish*, Esperanto, English | Message 19 of 28 29 December 2010 at 5:51am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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Jadane said
>Just because someone can easily learn >Spanish doesn't mean they wouldn't prefer >learning the much more difficult Urdu. My native language is Spanish, and I would be very happy if the whole world would speak Spanish. (This will never happen) The purpose of language is not to study it, but to use it. Not only Esperanto is much more easy to learn than Spanish, or Urdu, but there are many more chances to use it ... in almost every country in the world. People learn Esperanto to communicate with people of other countries. They want to speak to you ... same if you visit their towns or if they visit your town. If you learn Spanish, that doesn't mean that all the people in Spain, or in Spanish speaking America would like to talk to you. If you learn Esperanto, most people that know Esperanto would like to speak with you, and maybe help you know their towns. >wonder why the world should start from scratch Each person that try to learn a language have to start from scratch. For them, learning Esperanto will give results much faster than with any other language. If that person still wants to learn other language, after knowing Esperanto that other language will became easier. In other words, learning Esperanto saves time for learning other languages. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| Enriquee Triglot Groupie United States esperantofre.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5132 days ago 51 posts - 125 votes Speaks: Spanish*, Esperanto, English | Message 21 of 28 30 December 2010 at 6:06am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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Responding to Judane
>Statements like this are the reason why there are >sometimes disgreements between parties. It is not the statement. It is people reluctant to believe it.The statement is truth, from my experience, and from the experience of most people that use Esperanto.(I didn't say people that speak or understand Esperanto ...I said people that _use_ Esperanto) >There is no way that "there are more chances to use" >Esperanto in nations around the world than there is to use >Spanish. Generally speaking, Spanish is useful in all the countries that have Spanish as main language, mainly for official affairs or to use in all forms of commerce. It is not easy to get into these countries and make friends just because you speak Spanish. Same in the countries that speak Spanish, as in most of the other countries in the world, it is easier to make friends, easier to get somebody to show their towns, or even being invited to dinner, or stay overnight, speaking Esperanto than speaking Spanish. In my last visit to Korea I was all the time speaking in Esperanto. I didn't use Spanish nor English. In my last visit to China I used very little English with waiters, or with hotel personnel. Most of the time I spoke Esperanto. Same happened the previous year in Copenhagen. In China, most taxi drivers and even MacDonalds employees, don't speak English. You have to carry a map and show the taxi driver where yo want to go, on the map, or point on the menu what you want at the restaurant. >People study languages for a wide variety of reasons >(list of reasons) All those reasons, but one, are valid, but >-Visiting that country on vacation What happen if you intend to visit a different country each year? You cannot learn one language each year. I have spoken Esperanto in Japan, Korea, China, and some countries in America and Europe. It took me a short time to learn Esperanto. Learning Chinese, Japanese, and Korean is beyond my means. (time, money, brain) Even when people want or need to learn a specific language, learning Esperanto first, helps to save time. >I would respectfully point out that motivation also plays >a key role I agree. This is valid for all the languages, including Esperanto. I have seen that people that speak Esperanto are more motivated to learn other languages. Some people loose motivation after a couple of years studying a language. In that case, the learning would have succeeded, if the language was Esperanto. I wish you would write to me. My aol name is Enrike ... Esperanto is much more useful that what can be seen without using Esperanto. Edited by Enriquee on 30 December 2010 at 6:10am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6706 days ago 4250 posts - 5710 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 22 of 28 31 December 2010 at 3:27am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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I don't want to say that Esperanto is useless (it isn't), but your argumentative points are so full of personal views that they just can't be stated as the general "truths" you want them to be.
Even if the taxi drivers in China speak little or no English - no way that they're more likely to know Esperanto. I'd say that Spanish is one of the more widely spread languages - I could speak it every day if I wanted (and some other +15 languages, if I knew them!) - here in my town of ~22 000 people (on an island in the Baltic Sea - how about that). I don't know anybody in the entire region (~57 000 people) who knows Esperanto. Are you implying that Esperanto speakers are "friendlier" and more "welcoming" than say speakers of Spanish (or possibly, other languages)? Even if it's true, I have to locate the esperantists to be able to talk to them - something that can be done, of course, but what's the point of ignoring Spanish if I'm travelling in Spain? I just don't get it. On what do you base your ideas that Esperanto is so widely used? It's my impression that it's not. But if it is - the speakers are obviously working full-time to keep it a secret that they exist. They aren't here in my region, that's for sure. All this being said - one of my major Esperanto exercises next year is to read La Sankta Biblio (yes!), which I got in the mail a couple of days ago. Feliĉan Novan Jaron! Edited by jeff_lindqvist on 31 December 2010 at 3:28am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| Enriquee Triglot Groupie United States esperantofre.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5132 days ago 51 posts - 125 votes Speaks: Spanish*, Esperanto, English | Message 23 of 28 31 December 2010 at 5:43am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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Responding to Jeff_lindqvist
>your argumentative points are so full of personal views I agree. I speak only from my experience, and what I have seen in people that _use_ Esperanto. This is what I know. >just can't be stated as the general "truths" >you want them to be. All is based on what I have seen, what I have heard from other people that use Esperanto, and what I have read from people that use Esperanto. A few of the Esperanto travelers have written books and many have web pages or blogs ... all written in Esperanto. Many of the Internet writers do that in Esperanto and their native language. I can read only what they write in Esperanto. Generally I cannot read their native languages. >Even if the taxi drivers in China speak little or >no English - no way that they're more likely to >know Esperanto. I was very clear, that I had to point on the map where to go. (Some times, Esperanto-friends wrote addresses in the Chinese language.) But many English speakers say that "everybody in the world speak English". >15 languages, if I knew them!) - here in >my town of ~22 000 people (on an island >in the Baltic Sea - how about >that). >I don't know anybody in the entire region >(~57 000 people) who knows Esperanto. It is very likely that nobody speaks Esperanto in your area. But, if anybody had learned Esperanto, more likely you will never find out ... At least both of you became active users of Esperanto. >Are you implying that Esperanto speakers are >"friendlier" and more "welcoming" than say >speakers of Spanish (or possibly, other languages)? There are many friendly people in the world speaking any of the available languages. I live in the USA. I used to live in Argentina. I visited Argentina many times. I have also visited Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay ... Nobody ever invited me to dinner, to stay in their houses, or even just to show me around, just because I speak Spanish. Speakers of English, in any country, never offered me such invitations. In many countries, I was offered that kind of invitations from Esperanto speakers. This is a common situation between Esperanto travelers. >Even if it's true, I have to locate the >esperantists to be able to talk to them Same as you have to do with speakers of any language. If you want somebody to meet you at the airport, you have to locate those people before you arrive in their country ... in any language. >- something that can be done, of course, >but what's the point of ignoring Spanish >if I'm travelling in Spain? Most of them will not be ready to share their time with you. You may also be surprised if you end in Barcelona and try to speak Spanish ... I don't ignore Spanish while in Spain. I use it in the street or stores, with people I don't know. With my friends I speak Esperanto. This may include visitors from other countries that don't speak the local language. >I just don't get it. If being in Spain, you meet somebody that speaks English, more likely you will speak in English. >On what do you base your ideas that Esperanto >is so widely used? I didn't say that. I know that Esperanto is not widely used. I said that I find Esperanto speakers where I need them. >the speakers are obviously working full-time >to keep it a secret that they exist. This is a very interesting point. I do my best to show that I benefit by knowing Esperanto. You have read some of my messages, and the messages of some other Esperanto speakers. There are many thousands of web pages, in at least 62 languages, (maybe a lot more) inviting people to learn Esperanto, and giving the means to learn Esperanto, all for free ... and you still say that we keep it secret ... >They aren't here in my region, that's for sure. I don't have a sign in my back telling that I speak Esperanto. If you see me in the street, even if I ask you "what time is it", you will never know that I speak Esperanto. The same happens with most of the 6000 languages in the world. >one of my major Esperanto exercises next year >is to read La Sankta Biblio (yes!), which >I got in the mail a couple of days ago. Now it looks like you are one of those "secret Esperanto Speakers". Otherwise, I will not recommend to read The Bible until you have already read some beginner's books. There are plenty of them available for free in the web ... The Bible is also in the web. Resources to learn and use Esperanto http://esperantofre.com/edu/iloj01a.htm A Christian organization from Europe send me for free, The New Testament, during my second year as an Esperanto speaker, in 1960. By then I had already read some books in Esperanto, and reading the New Testament was rather easy for me. At the time I was living in Argentina. Happy New Year! Edited by Enriquee on 31 December 2010 at 5:47am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6706 days ago 4250 posts - 5710 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 24 of 28 31 December 2010 at 2:08pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
I'm simply talking about the chance of using the language, not necessarily becoming friends with the random Englishman, Spaniard, Chinese etc. If I'm in a country, know some of the language, and I'm in the situation where I can use it - I'll try my best to do that. What you're saying (if I haven't misinterpreted your messages totally), probably is that you are able to use Esperanto because you're actively looking for those opportunities. Which I think is great! However, it's still nowhere close to the chance of bumping into a person who speaks say, English or Spanish (or some of the other "major" languages in the world).
Not only Esperanto is much more easy to learn than Spanish, or Urdu, but there are many more chances to use it ... in almost every country in the world. This is the quote I was thinking of, and don't agree with (by the way, I even know of an Urdu speaker here in town). Saying that there are more chances to use Esperanto than other languages (with millions and millions of speakers) is something I can't believe. There are people from many corners of the world at the university here. Even if they probably won't invite the random person just like that (who does?), I still have statistically more chances to use those languages than to bump into somebody who speaks Esperanto. When I'm in the capitol, I hear dozens of languages every day on the subway, in cafés, in the street. I have yet to hear somebody speak Esperanto.
I know of the strong community on the web and all the free resources (which I've had much pleasure learning from!). But the web isn't the same thing as world out there.
Let us say that I'm a secret Esperanto reader. :) Don't worry, I have read texts in the language before. Thanks for the link, by the way. Edited by jeff_lindqvist on 31 December 2010 at 2:09pm 5 persons have voted this message useful |
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