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> This is inaccurate. L.L. Zamenhof hoped that Esperanto – or at least something like it – would eventually replace all other languages. He didn’t care much for

by schoen 9y ago

> This is inaccurate. L.L. Zamenhof hoped that Esperanto – or at least something like it – would eventually replace all other languages. He didn’t care much for language diversity as we would understand it today, and he saw such differences between peoples as divisive and an obstacle to overcome. Thanks for the correction! I've heard exactly the opposite from Esperantist sources, but it's quite possible that people are sort of retroactively attributing their views to Zamenhof even if he would have felt quite differently -- which I guess isn't unusual in movements with a respected charismatic founder. Maybe this approach emerged somewhat later and people then described it as the "traditional" view of the movement. Can you suggest any sources or references that might clarify this issue?

Mediterraneo10 9y ago
Zamenhof's complete works have been gathered and published by a Japanese Esperantist, though I cannot recall his name at the moment – it has been many years since I did anything with Esperanto. Zamenhof's own statements are all about this kind of cultural diversity eventually falling away, and humanity being united under one language (and, in his advocacy for "Homaranismo", one religion, too). The vast majority of Esperantists have never read more than one or two brief writings from Zamenhof himself and all they know of the Esperanto movement's goals are what later publications tell them. When Esperanto organizations have been claiming for a few decades now that they care about language diversity, it is no surprise that Esperantists tend to ascribe that belief to Zamenhof too, but it is very anachronistic.
- schoen 9y ago
  Thanks, that's a very interesting point! I'll have to look into this a bit further further. I've frequently read Zamenhof's famous congress speech that includes the part about "Ofte kunvenas personoj de malsamaj nacioj kaj komprenas unu la alian; sed kia grandega diferenco estas inter ilia reciproka kompreniĝado kaj la nia!" and the idea that human relations will be more equitable with an international auxiliary language... except now I don't know whether he in fact considered it "auxiliary" or merely "international". Now I'm thinking about the other interpretation in which he perhaps doesn't want other languages to survive in the long run. Notably I guess he called Esperanto only "la internacia lingvo" at first until other people started to call it "Esperanto", and perhaps the concept of "helplingvo" largely postdates him, although apparently "auxiliary language" was used toward the end of Zamenhof's own lifetime (Wikipedia suggests maybe first by Otto Jespersen), and these terms seem to suggest supplementing other languages rather than replacing them.

by schoen 9y ago

Mediterraneo10 9y ago

Zamenhof's complete works have been gathered and published by a Japanese Esperantist, though I cannot recall his name at the moment – it has been many years since I did anything with Esperanto. Zamenhof's own statements are all about this kind of cultural diversity eventually falling away, and humanity being united under one language (and, in his advocacy for "Homaranismo", one religion, too). The vast majority of Esperantists have never read more than one or two brief writings from Zamenhof himself and all they know of the Esperanto movement's goals are what later publications tell them. When Esperanto organizations have been claiming for a few decades now that they care about language diversity, it is no surprise that Esperantists tend to ascribe that belief to Zamenhof too, but it is very anachronistic.

schoen 9y ago
Thanks, that's a very interesting point! I'll have to look into this a bit further further. I've frequently read Zamenhof's famous congress speech that includes the part about "Ofte kunvenas personoj de malsamaj nacioj kaj komprenas unu la alian; sed kia grandega diferenco estas inter ilia reciproka kompreniĝado kaj la nia!" and the idea that human relations will be more equitable with an international auxiliary language... except now I don't know whether he in fact considered it "auxiliary" or merely "international". Now I'm thinking about the other interpretation in which he perhaps doesn't want other languages to survive in the long run. Notably I guess he called Esperanto only "la internacia lingvo" at first until other people started to call it "Esperanto", and perhaps the concept of "helplingvo" largely postdates him, although apparently "auxiliary language" was used toward the end of Zamenhof's own lifetime (Wikipedia suggests maybe first by Otto Jespersen), and these terms seem to suggest supplementing other languages rather than replacing them.