What do people comment on?
July 22nd, 2008 | 
Author: One thing that’s slightly peculiar is that almost always when I write something about languages, I get comments on the post.
Why? Basically because there’s something of an underground support group for Esperanto.
Eh? What’s Esperanto? For those that don’t know, way back in the late 1800s there was a feeling worldwide that what was needed was a world language. One that wasn’t tied politically to any particular country (so no vested interests) and could be used around the world.
At the time, such a language didn’t exist so there arose something of a cottage industry in inventing them. Of those produced at the time, Esperanto being by far the best known these days. However, it didn’t stop then and in the early 1900s people proposed even more languages including a simplified version of English.
Although it’s quite a different world these days, the Esperanto community is still developing the language and you can even get free accommodation around the world if you can speak it (it’s reputedly a very easy language to learn). And, they’re very enthusiastic commenters on posts!
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I didn’t realise I was a member of an “underground support group for Esperanto”.
Yes, Esperanto is easy to learn and use. I hope you’ve got time for enthusiasts. There’s plent of cynicism and negativity around!
We’re holding a big get-together of Esperanto speakers from a dozen countries in Salisbury next spring, then in Llandudno in north Wales in 2010. You don’t need to be an underground supporter to take part!
I thought eveyone knew what Esperanto was.
On the other hand “everyone”, throughout the whole world, is supposed to speak English fluently as well.
However not even the England soccer manage speaks English.
That’s why Esperanto is worthy of serious consideration.
Can I suggest http://www.lernu.net
And it so happens that the 93rd annual World Esperanto Congress is meeting in Rotterdam at this very moment, with about 1800 participants from 73 different countries. Here are 7 reasons for the present reawakening interest in Esperanto:
http://lingvo.org
and you can hear Esperanto in action in daily broadcasts from Radio Polonia:
http://www.polskieradio.pl/eo/
‘Universal bilingualism’ [YOUR ethnic language + non-ethnic Esperanto for all] still seems to be a very fair and democratic alternative to the destructive hegemony of one ethnic language.
Bill… from the outside it seems very much like an “underground” support group. For example, despite spending quite a period in a university language department I never heard mention of Esperanto there which somehow seems wrong. There was neither mention of Esperanto nor courses of any level available for it. The one time I came across it recently was not in the language department but in the English department.
Brian… no, it’s not known about by everyone which is basically the problem that it has. I think that if it were more widely known about then you’d find that more people would have an interest in studying it and using it.
Mankso… I like the ideal of a universal bilingualism in principle though the snag is that these days it’s becoming more of a trilingualism that’s needed (ie regional language, national language, international language). The problem is that realistically people in general just don’t have the time to commit to learning two additional languages and, in most cases, the educational resources aren’t there either. For example, it appears to be the case generally in some regions of Spain that only the regional language is truly mastered and that they neither master the national language nor an international one (although, in this case, Spanish obviously counts as an international language).
Mankso… re the manifesto…
1. Were Esperanto to be adopted as you would like, those same advantages would apply to native Esperanto speakers in due course. My understanding is that there are no native speakers of it at the moment but that would change.
2. English is a national language in many non-UK/American/Australian/Canadian countries eg India and Singapore. It is not an ethnic language.
Arnold…I too spent 45 years of my life in N. American university language departments (both USA & Canada) and soon learned to keep my mouth shut about speaking Esperanto. The attitude from the theoretical linguists was usually mocking, and that Esperanto could not and would not work (note the conditional!) – and a refusal to examine evidence. The literature people were usually aghast at the thought of literature in a “non-natural” language without a 1,000 year history and a people behind it – and also a refusal to examine the evidence. The majority of N. American linguistics texts make absolutely no mention of Esperanto, despite the fact that speakers can be found in most larger cities. I hesitate to talk of ‘plots’ and concealment, but I find it all most peculiar. Such deprecatory attitudes are well-known to most Esperanto-speakers. [Google ‘Piron psychological reactions’ for a discussion].
Esperanto has tried to solve the question of time needed for communicative competence by simplifying and regularizing the grammar – I taught both ethnic languages and Esperanto – my estimate is that for Esperanto about 1/10th of the time is needed to reach the same level. [Google Wikipedia ‘esperanto propaedeutic’ – & note the spelling!]
Re the Prague Manifesto _ you’re probably right about ‘due course’, but why should that bother you? It’s not likely to happen, and certainly not in your lifetime! But you’re wrong about native-speakers – there are now around 1000, so I’m told.
And I’m told that the percentage of Indians competent in English (or Hindlish?) is an élite of only about 4%, though much higher in Singapore. Is English helping or hindering the creation of a national consciousness, free of colonial overtones, in the Philippines?
Re ‘trilingualism’ – despite the enormous time needed, that is precisely what the official EU policy is – your language + two! But it certainly is not happeneing in the UK. How fair is that?!