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Esperanto a waste of time? | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Esperanto |  | |
| doviende Diglot Senior Member Canada languagefixatio Joined 5776 days ago 533 posts - 1245 votes  Speaks: English*, German Studies: Spanish, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Hindi, Swedish, Portuguese | Message 241 of 351 22 June 2010 at 9:45am | IP Logged | ||
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I think the cultural aspect is important too. It's amusing to me how some English speakers fear that Esperanto will grow to engulf the world in monolingual tyranny, when in fact it seems to me that they are just speaking in a way that reflects their cultural heritage. Native speakers of English tend to grow up in a culture of imperialism, both past and present, and that is sometimes reflected in our views. Because of this, we tend to think that what happened to our language (global dominance) evolved naturally or by accident (when in fact our leaders have aimed at that for centuries), and then when considering another language that might become widely used, we view it through the same lens.
On the other hand, I don't think there are many people who learn Esperanto without encountering the corresponding culture of inclusiveness, neutrality and fairness. It's part of the history and current culture of the language. As to whether Esperanto can actually achieve wider usage, I think these sorts of events are not necessarily linear. It won't be 1000000 one year, 1100000 the next, 1200000 the year after. It will more likely be due to some sort of critical event or situation that catapults it to recognition. Something like the EU or UN recognizing it as a working language...which has been proposed many times in the past, and almost came to be several times. I doubt it will happen in, say, the next decade, but it's not an impossible occurrence. As another example, when I started using Linux in 1994, everyone told me it'd never be widely used at home or by businesses (and I believed them), but this year there were 1000000 (yes, with 6 zeros) new computers deployed in Venezuelan schools that all only run Linux, and most of the business at the datacenter where I worked until April consisted of Linux web servers. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| fanatic Octoglot Senior Member Australia speedmathematics.com Joined 6936 days ago 1152 posts - 1818 votes Speaks: English*, German, French, Afrikaans, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch Studies: Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Modern Hebrew, Malay, Mandarin, Esperanto | Message 242 of 351 22 June 2010 at 10:50am | IP Logged | ||
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I think the question is entirely subjective. All of us have been told we are wasting our time doing something we wanted to do. Sometimes we are talked out of continuing.
No one can say that learning Esperanto is a waste of time. It may be a waste of time for you. Fine, no one is forcing you to learn it. Spend your time learning a language you find worthwhile. Is it a waste of time to learn dead languages? Is it a waste of time to learn a language spoken only by a small number of people? How many people on the forum learn Icelandic when it is spoken by far fewer than those who speak Esperanto. We can only decide what is worthwhile for us, not for others. If someone wants to learn Esperanto, why should we oppose it or tell the person that he or she is wrong for doing so. I think train-spotting is a waste of time but I don't feel compelled to preach against it. People who study Esperanto derive pleasure from doing so. Should we deprive them of that pleasure? I don't like the question but my answer is no if you want to learn it. For those who don't like the idea of studying the language the answer is yes, it would be time wasted for you. Edited by fanatic on 22 June 2010 at 10:50am 9 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5459 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 243 of 351 22 June 2010 at 12:09pm | IP Logged | ||
That is a very interesting idea, and one that I am sure many of us have pondered in the past. However, I have to ask whether making Esperanto one of the official languages of the EU (or UN) would have much impact on its popularity Look at it this way: most people who will need to participate in or read EU proceedings will already speak one of the languages that are currently used in EU discussions. Imagine if the EU stated, from now on they would recognise Khasi (an Indian language with around 1 million speakers) as a working language. Would this result in a large international increase in Khasi speakers? I would be surprised if it did. It may just end up being yet another translation target, thereby increasing costs and bureaucracy but with little impact on uptake of the language. I do not see why Esperanto would be any different. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5243 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 244 of 351 22 June 2010 at 5:00pm | IP Logged | ||
I think Esperanto could succeed if the EU really promoted it. They would have to make it one of the working languages, make information and publications available in Esperanto, make Esperanto an obligatory subject in school, set up evening classes for adults, have signs in Esperanto in public spaces such as airports etc. I don't think it will ever happen though. Edited by tractor on 23 June 2010 at 6:23pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Hoogamagoo Diglot Newbie United States Joined 6341 days ago 14 posts - 70 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto | Message 245 of 351 23 June 2010 at 4:06pm | IP Logged | ||
I have a friendly bet going with a friend that there will be official EU documents in Esperanto before we see kilometer per hour signs across the US highways or see major US weather reports in celsius. :-) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| gedamara Diglot Newbie Albania Joined 5131 days ago 22 posts - 22 votes Speaks: German, Albanian* Studies: French, English | Message 246 of 351 25 June 2010 at 10:32am | IP Logged | ||
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yyes it is a total waste of time as long as it is an artificial language,
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sprachprofi Nonaglot Senior Member Germany learnlangs.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6260 days ago 2608 posts - 4866 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Esperanto, Greek, Mandarin, Latin, Dutch, Italian Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swahili, Indonesian, Japanese, Modern Hebrew, Portuguese | Message 247 of 351 25 June 2010 at 10:47am | IP Logged | ||
So is German. It's an artificial combination of various Central European dialects/languages, many of which were mutually incomprehensible, with quite a lot of French, English, Latin and Greek thrown in. The only difference is that standard German had several hundred years to become the language of a powerful nation and the everyday language of many of its citizens, while Esperanto only had one hundred years so far and native speakers are still far in between. Btw the French languages were mutually incomprehensible (when spoken) up until world war 1 - at which time the French government started imposing one language. Edited by Sprachprofi on 25 June 2010 at 10:50am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5243 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 248 of 351 25 June 2010 at 11:39am | IP Logged | ||
Didn't that start earlier, with the French Revolution? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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