Register  Login  Active Topics  Maps  

Esperanto a waste of time?

 Language Learning Forum : Esperanto Post Reply
351 messages over 44 pages: 1 2 35 6 7 ... 4 ... 43 44 Next >>
leosmith
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6310 days ago

2365 posts - 3804 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Tagalog

 
 Message 25 of 351
19 January 2007 at 2:52pm | IP Logged 
Excellent link Ari. I stand corrected. Sweet, I'm on my 6th, so maybe it will get easier for me. On the other hand, after Japanese and Chinese, it's gotta get easier, right?

I'm thinking that just having another language mastered is what gave the Esperanto group the advantage, rather than having Esperanto specifically mastered. For example, if you gave a monoglot (is that a word?) a 2 month head start, would a diglot catch and surpass her?
1 person has voted this message useful



Aryan
Newbie
India
Joined 5254 days ago

1 posts - 5 votes

 
 Message 26 of 351
09 November 2009 at 3:21pm | IP Logged 
I learned Esperanto thirty years ago. I read it, speak it and write in it, I also tried to strengthen the Esperanto
movement in India. By profession I am a medical doctor.

Having travelled all around the world, befriended by hundreds of Esperantists in India and abroad, having authored
some books in and on Esperanto, I feel I wasted my life. I regret learning Esperanto.

If I learned any other natural language like Spanish or Swahili, I could be more useful to my mother tongue Telugu
and the world of literature.

This is my life-experience. Do you need to know more about why Esperanto is waste of time?

Dr Aryan

Edited by Rhian on 09 November 2009 at 4:18pm

5 persons have voted this message useful



Volte
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Switzerland
Joined 6199 days ago

4474 posts - 6726 votes 
Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian
Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese

 
 Message 27 of 351
09 November 2009 at 3:55pm | IP Logged 
Aryan wrote:
having travelled all around the world, befriended with hundreds of esperantists in India and abroad, having authored some books in and on esperanto, i feel i wasted my life. i regret learning esperanto.

if i learned any other natural language like Spanish or swahili, i could be more useful to my mother tongue Telugu and the world of literature.


I'd like to know more about Telugu literature. Some questions:

1) Who are your preferred Telugu authors, and why?
2) Are there any Telugu audiobooks? If so, would you name a few? Are they sold online?
3) I realize Esperanto seems to be a sore topic for you, but do you know any Esperanto translations of Telugu literature, which you judge to be good? What about English translations of Telugu literature?


4 persons have voted this message useful



FuroraCeltica
Triglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 6625 days ago

1187 posts - 1427 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, French

 
 Message 28 of 351
10 November 2009 at 9:45am | IP Logged 
Esperanto is no more a "waste of time" than any other language. Plenty of people learn Latin, a dead language, but nobody calls that a waste of time. In fact Latin is often held up as a good way to learn about how languages work (declension, grammar etc) as well providing a base for learning Roamnce languages. Esperanto is therefore no more a waste than Latin.
4 persons have voted this message useful



Splog
Diglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
anthonylauder.c
Joined 5429 days ago

1062 posts - 3263 votes 
Speaks: English*, Czech
Studies: Mandarin

 
 Message 29 of 351
10 November 2009 at 10:48am | IP Logged 
FuroraCeltica wrote:
Esperanto is therefore no more a waste than Latin.


Except that if you speak Latin, many people would likely consider you well educated. Whereas if you speak Esperanto, many people would likely consider you a nerd.
1 person has voted this message useful



Gusutafu
Senior Member
Sweden
Joined 5281 days ago

655 posts - 1039 votes 
Speaks: Swedish*

 
 Message 30 of 351
10 November 2009 at 11:14am | IP Logged 
Splog wrote:
FuroraCeltica wrote:
Esperanto is therefore no more a waste than Latin.


Except that if you speak Latin, many people would likely consider you well educated. Whereas if you speak Esperanto, many people would likely consider you a nerd.


Exactly. Plus the fact that some of the greatest authors of all time wrote in Latin, whereas material orignially produced in Esperanto is likely to fall short of Cicero or Ovid. (If you only learn one Classical language you should naturally pick Greek, but Latin is not too bad either.)
1 person has voted this message useful



cordelia0507
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5598 days ago

1473 posts - 2176 votes 
Speaks: Swedish*
Studies: German, Russian

 
 Message 31 of 351
10 November 2009 at 4:01pm | IP Logged 
I support it for political reasons.

I want the EU to have it's OWN language that is based on European languages but that is not tied to any national policy or culture and which is a foreign language to everyone, while still having the potential to easily become everyone's second language.

I find it incomprehensible that so many Europeans are comfortable using the language of what is gradually turning into a competing world power as our common language... The days of the British Empire and the Cold War are long gone.

Just listen to some Europeans trying to speak English (no nationalities mentioned..) and you'll see why English simply doesn't give all EU citizens a fair equal chance -- it's too hard to master for people who are educated in less than ideal circumstances and whose mother tongue is very different from English. However, Esperanto is SUPER EASY and has none of the trip-ups that English is packed with.

I do not want to speak English with a Romanian, Greek or Portuguese person just because it happens to be the national language of the United States which has been a superpower for a bit over half a century...!

Anyone agree with any of this?


Edited by patuco on 11 November 2009 at 12:46am

14 persons have voted this message useful



Lizzern
Diglot
Senior Member
Norway
Joined 5669 days ago

791 posts - 1053 votes 
Speaks: Norwegian*, English
Studies: Japanese

 
 Message 32 of 351
10 November 2009 at 4:23pm | IP Logged 
Personally, I like English. I don't mind that it's politically connected to some countries more than others (probably because I don't mind those countries). And it seems to me that the EU has gotten on just fine without its very own language. If English is the de facto common language for parts of the world - which it is - then I think we just need to deal, and make the most of it, take advantage of it rather than wish it wasn't so. The fact that I CAN talk to my Greek friends in English in an accomplishment that I have to give credit to English for, and there are numerous other things I would never want to be without in my life that I simply would never have had if not for English. So I'm grateful.

Should English be replaced by another language? Personally I wouldn't mind if the main common language was Italian instead of English, but such is life. Not something I spend time thinking about, to be honest. But I don't think it should be Esperanto - though I'd probably at least consider getting behind it if 1) I thought it would work on a large scale to everyone's benefit without disadvantaging any particular culture or language, and 2) it didn't sound like nails on a chalkboard to me. No offense, just my personal feelings about the sound and look of the language.

I guess the question is, is it a big enough problem that English is the language that is used to let people connect and communicate across linguistic borders? I mean, really?


7 persons have voted this message useful



This discussion contains 351 messages over 44 pages: << Prev 1 2 35 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44  Next >>


Post ReplyPost New Topic Printable version Printable version

You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page was generated in 7.5781 seconds.


DHTML Menu By Milonic JavaScript
Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved
No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization.