Linguistics Discussion 2013 and Beyond discussion

By far the most popular and successful constructed language in the world is Esperanto, which was originally intended to become the standard international second language. This thread will be devoted to talking about Esperanto and all of its related shenanigans.

Here's a link to the Esperanto USA organization for those of you who might want a starting point for exploring this most sophisticated of made-up languages: http://www.esperanto-usa.org/

It's also worth noting that George Soros is a native Esperanto speaker, and learned it as his first language (L1).

I wonder what his parent's friends thought about it? :)

Speaking of which we should probably have a thread that talks about bilingualism.

Hmm, that seems hard to tie down. Do we want to have an independent thread for Second Language Acquisition, bilingualism itself, or people to discuss talking in a second language?

Would it make sense to incorporate it into "Languages of Reality?"

Yes, I suppose so. It just interests me, the theory that children can develop language just by being exposed to it from a young age. I know one kid who speaks five or six languages as a 7 year old just because of his relatives speaking those different languages.

Yeah. Young children are simply language sponges, and it is woefully underutilized.

We could make a Language Acquisition folder I suppose, with one thread for First Language Acquisition, and another for Second Language Acquisition?

Kyle wrote: "Yeah. Young children are simply language sponges, and it is woefully underutilized.

We could make a Language Acquisition folder I suppose, with one thread for First Language Acquisition, and anot..."

That works. Then we can discuss all about language acquisition, associated theories and linguists in there.

Summary in English of major websites that use Esperanto: www.EsperantoFriends.blogspot.com Activity for Esperanto at the United Nations in New York is at www.Esperanto-un.org in Esperanto.

Neil wrote: "Summary in English of major websites that use Esperanto: www.EsperantoFriends.blogspot.com Activity for Esperanto at the United Nations in New York is at www.Esperanto-un.org in Esperanto."

Nice, Neil! I hear there are Esperanto groups in basically every city, where people get together, hang out, and Esperanto it up.

I heard an argument about Esperanto that I found really compelling. When asked about the relevancy of the language and why people should try to learn it when such a relatively few number of people speak it, this one Esperanto person said something along the lines that yes, it's true fewer overall numbers of people speak it, but they are more widely dispersed throughout the world. If you learn Mandarin it might be the most spoken language in the world, but outside of China its much harder to use. The same with things like Korean, Swahili, Japanese, Russian, German, etc:... This person basically argued that if you learn Esperanto, there are usually at least a handful of speakers in most cities of the world and they are well networked with each other, theoretically making it easier to "travel the world" on Esperanto.

I found the argument compelling to some degree, and am actually seriously thinking about trying to learn it. :)

I don't know much about Esperanto. But wouldn't the learner be limited to people interested in Esperanto? I would think most people, when traveling, would want to immerse themselves in that country's language, and perhaps use something like an electronic translator to get around.

Kyle wrote: "By far the most popular and successful constructed language in the world is Esperanto..."

More successful than Klingon or Elvish?!
(I know one or two people who will be most upset.)

On the other hand, it is - potentially - more useful.

Cecily wrote: "More successful than Klingon or Elvish?!
(I know one or two people who will be most upset.)
..."


Ha, I guess if you judge it by the number of people who have heard of the language, then it's probably less successful. Based on the actual number of speakers though....

There are actually people who speak Esperanto as a first language, which in my mind provides enormous legitimacy for any language (sorry Latin).

Surely the number of people for whom Esperanto is a first language is tiny?

Oh, certainly! Minuscule, even. But the fact that they even exist at all seems like a huge deal for a constructed language (since constructed languages are entirely made-up). And unfortunately, when compared to the multitude of vanishing and endangered languages (especially indigenous/native), the number of Esperanto speakers seems pretty large indeed.

Aloha wrote: "I don't know much about Esperanto. But wouldn't the learner be limited to people interested in Esperanto? I would think most people, when traveling, would want to immerse themselves in that count..."

Yeah, that's sort of the purpose, but also biggest criticism of Esperanto. It was envisioned to be entirely culturally neutral, in order to prevent any sort of bias and put all cross-cultural communication on a level playing field.

But like you said (and I agree), a lot of people want to learn other languages precisely because of the cultural component. I would argue that when you learn a foreign language you're not simply unlocking a translation tool, in many ways you're unlocking a whole other world. It's the main reason I chose to study Italian, rather than something more "practical" for me like Spanish, Russian, or Mandarin. This seems to be one of Esperanto's biggest challenges; it's proponents also claim that it is a beautiful language, though I'm not sure how I feel on that front either.