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I do think that that's a problem with esperanto, but large-scale things like that are only part of the problem. You could also, just as reasonably, frame it as
by mumblemumble 6y ago
I do think that that's a problem with esperanto, but large-scale things like that are only part of the problem. You could also, just as reasonably, frame it as a sort of, "Why don't more people learn esperanto?"
To that question, I found this YouTube polyglot explaining why he doesn't think esperanto is a language to learn raises some very good points: (https://youtu.be/n4AklOtfhMo https://youtu.be/n4AklOtfhMo - in french) The one I found compelling is that, in the absence of an economic motivator, you really need to fall in love with a language to remain motivated to learn it well. Where esperanto doesn't really have much of a cultural history or literary tradition, it just doesn't offer most people a lot to love.
- dalbasal 6y agoI agree about the framing of the problem. I would say that esperanto does offer some inherent reasons to learn it. It's very easy to learn, relative to natural languages. That's what it was invented for. It's fun to make fast progress, and I think this is the biggest motivator for people to learn it. It's also useful to learn a second language, because learning a language makes it easier to learn languages. There are some school programs teaching esperanto for this reason. It's part of their path to learning english. Besides that, there's linguistic interest & idealistic interest. You're right though, that it's all about the inherent reasons. There are no books to read or people to talk to. That's one hell of a downside. I think klingon and dothraki are good reference points. People learn those for no practical reason.
- mumblemumble 6y agoBut then, think about what's implied by those being the big reasons to learn the language. They implicitly relegate esperanto to the status of a toy language, comparable to the Lox programming language from Crafting Interpreters. You don't learn it because you actually want to speak esperanto (or program in Lox); you learn it as a simple model you can use to learn the techniques you'll use to accomplish some other goal, such as learning how to learn languages. It's definitely different if you really like the ideal of a language that doesn't belong to any one group of people. But I'm guessing that, nowadays, that's a compelling motivating factor for fewer people than, "I really like Star Trek," is. Klingon's rich cultural history may be a constructed patchwork, but at least it exists.
- dalbasal 6y agoThat wasn't the goal. Esperanto didn't take. Esperanto was relegated. Those are the reasons remaining, and they are enough to support the language to some extent. It's not the reasons that relegated the language.
- Viliam1234 6y ago> There are no books to read https://dvd.ikso.net/pagxo/en/libro.html https://dvd.ikso.net/pagxo/en/libro.html Note that these are merely the books where the copyright has already expired, so they can be freely put online. There is much more of the fresher content.
- dalbasal 6y agoI didn't mean it literally. There are also some people to talk to. Just not many.
- SuoDuanDao 6y agoThis is one reason for the pasporta servo - essentially a free airbnb for esperantists who were travelling. As a young person I thought it was incredibly compelling that there was a language which would make me part of a subculture where anyone will host you while travelling. Nowadays there's couchsurfing.com, which simply has a larger subculture, and as such the pasporta servo is not that useful any more. But it was a clever way to address that challenge!