3 ms·

> I wonder if there are still more Klingon speakers than Esperanto today. I believe there were never more Klingon speakers than Esperanto speakers. More preci

> I wonder if there are still more Klingon speakers than Esperanto today. I believe there were never more Klingon speakers than Esperanto speakers. More precisely, I doubt there are any Klingon speakers -- where "speaker" doesn't mean a person who memorized a few words and sentences, but who can spend one hour talking fluently about their favorite topic -- but even assuming there are any, I really doubt there would be one hundred of them, worldwide. On the other hand, I have met hundreds of Esperanto speakers at various Esperanto-related activities, and they are quite able to talk the whole day without having to use another language. I used to be fluent at that language, too. But maybe that's just my bubble. Could you perhaps give me a link to e.g. people giving a lecture in Klingon in front of live audience, preferably on a topic other than constructed languages?

tracker1 7y ago
Not sure about numbers, but there's the Klingon Language Institute[1], which recently had a conference[2]. I mainly remember it being said that there were more conversational Klingon speakers than Esparanto around a decade ago. [1] https://www.kli.org/ https://www.kli.org/ [2] https://www.kli.org/activities/qepmey/qepa-chamah-javdich/ https://www.kli.org/activities/qepmey/qepa-chamah-javdich/
- Viliam1234 7y ago
  Klingon Language Institute has a web page in English, but not in Klingon. That usually does not happen to Esperanto organizations. Having two books translated to Klingon is impressive. To compare, the library of UEA offers 770 books in Esperanto in category "Translated Prose", and 362 in category "Original Prose". https://katalogo.uea.org/index.php?kateg=prtr https://katalogo.uea.org/index.php?kateg=prtr https://katalogo.uea.org/index.php?kateg=pror https://katalogo.uea.org/index.php?kateg=pror There is also a Wikipedia in Esperanto, with over 1/4 million articles. Fewer than English with almost 6 million articles, but still more than many languages with millions of native speakers. https://eo.wikipedia.org/ https://eo.wikipedia.org/ This is why I find the statement about more Klingon speakers than Esperanto speakers very unlikely, whether now or a decade ago. (Klingon Language Institute boasts about growing fast, while Esperanto speakers usually complain about stagnation; which makes it even less likely that the statement would be true a decade ago if it isn't true now.)

tracker1 7y ago

Not sure about numbers, but there's the Klingon Language Institute[1], which recently had a conference[2]. I mainly remember it being said that there were more conversational Klingon speakers than Esparanto around a decade ago. [1] https://www.kli.org/ https://www.kli.org/ [2] https://www.kli.org/activities/qepmey/qepa-chamah-javdich/ https://www.kli.org/activities/qepmey/qepa-chamah-javdich/

Viliam1234 7y ago
Klingon Language Institute has a web page in English, but not in Klingon. That usually does not happen to Esperanto organizations. Having two books translated to Klingon is impressive. To compare, the library of UEA offers 770 books in Esperanto in category "Translated Prose", and 362 in category "Original Prose". https://katalogo.uea.org/index.php?kateg=prtr https://katalogo.uea.org/index.php?kateg=prtr https://katalogo.uea.org/index.php?kateg=pror https://katalogo.uea.org/index.php?kateg=pror There is also a Wikipedia in Esperanto, with over 1/4 million articles. Fewer than English with almost 6 million articles, but still more than many languages with millions of native speakers. https://eo.wikipedia.org/ https://eo.wikipedia.org/ This is why I find the statement about more Klingon speakers than Esperanto speakers very unlikely, whether now or a decade ago. (Klingon Language Institute boasts about growing fast, while Esperanto speakers usually complain about stagnation; which makes it even less likely that the statement would be true a decade ago if it isn't true now.)