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If Klingon were invented in Europe and designed to be a pan-european easy-to-learn language, sure. Otherwise, Esperanto has some desirable attributes as a unive

If Klingon were invented in Europe and designed to be a pan-european easy-to-learn language, sure. Otherwise, Esperanto has some desirable attributes as a universal second language.

mannerheim 5y ago
There are other, better-designed conlangs than Esperanto. Nobody speaks them, sure, but nobody speaks Esperanto either. And if we're going by popularity, might as well pick English anyway.
- leke 5y ago
  Esperanto has a pretty big, organised and active community. But you're right. I also think popularity should be the decider. If Esperanto thinks it should be the chosen auxiliary language, it will have to earn it. Personally though, I prefer Ido over Esperanto.
  - mnouquet 5y ago
    Define "pretty big".
    - akvadrako 5y ago
      Around year 2000 there were about 2 million speakers. It's way above any other conlang.
      - mannerheim 5y ago
        That's akin to being the biggest fish in a fishbowl. There are minor dialects of minor languages with more speakers.
        akvadrako 5y ago
        The question was about conlangs, which have the advantage of being designed to be easier to learn. Esperanto is so easy it can be learned in negative time. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaedeutic_value_of_Esperanto#:~:text=The%20propaedeutic%20value%20of%20Esperanto,explore%20other%20cultures%20more%20successfully https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaedeutic_value_of_Espera....
Avamander 5y ago
"Easy-to-learn" is very subjective. There's a lot of different languages spoken in the EU and the accessibility of a language environment matters.
- leke 5y ago
  True. I struggled with Esperanto for 10 years, only to give up and try Ido.
  - beebeepka 5y ago
    What's your native tongue? I guess that would make non insignificant difference
    - leke 5y ago
      English and a long time Finnish learner/speaker (because of migration).
- hulug 5y ago
  > "Easy to learn" is very subjective Not really. For example, a language that has no grammatical gender is inarguably easier to learn than a one that has.
  - mannerheim 5y ago
    Finnish has no grammatical gender. Is it easier to learn than Spanish?
    - hulug 5y ago
      That was just one example but you win I guess. What I had in my mind was for a Spanish speaker it's probably easier to learn a hypothetical Romance language that doesn't have grammatical gender than say French.
      - 5y ago

If Klingon were invented in Europe and designed to be a pan-european easy-to-learn language, sure. Otherwise, Esperanto has some desirable attributes as a universal second language.

mannerheim 5y ago

There are other, better-designed conlangs than Esperanto. Nobody speaks them, sure, but nobody speaks Esperanto either. And if we're going by popularity, might as well pick English anyway.

leke 5y ago
Esperanto has a pretty big, organised and active community. But you're right. I also think popularity should be the decider. If Esperanto thinks it should be the chosen auxiliary language, it will have to earn it. Personally though, I prefer Ido over Esperanto.
- mnouquet 5y ago
  Define "pretty big".
  - akvadrako 5y ago
    Around year 2000 there were about 2 million speakers. It's way above any other conlang.
    - mannerheim 5y ago
      That's akin to being the biggest fish in a fishbowl. There are minor dialects of minor languages with more speakers.
      - akvadrako 5y ago
        The question was about conlangs, which have the advantage of being designed to be easier to learn. Esperanto is so easy it can be learned in negative time. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaedeutic_value_of_Esperanto#:~:text=The%20propaedeutic%20value%20of%20Esperanto,explore%20other%20cultures%20more%20successfully https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaedeutic_value_of_Espera....

Avamander 5y ago

"Easy-to-learn" is very subjective. There's a lot of different languages spoken in the EU and the accessibility of a language environment matters.

leke 5y ago
True. I struggled with Esperanto for 10 years, only to give up and try Ido.
- beebeepka 5y ago
  What's your native tongue? I guess that would make non insignificant difference
  - leke 5y ago
    English and a long time Finnish learner/speaker (because of migration).
hulug 5y ago
> "Easy to learn" is very subjective Not really. For example, a language that has no grammatical gender is inarguably easier to learn than a one that has.
- mannerheim 5y ago
  Finnish has no grammatical gender. Is it easier to learn than Spanish?
  - hulug 5y ago
    That was just one example but you win I guess. What I had in my mind was for a Spanish speaker it's probably easier to learn a hypothetical Romance language that doesn't have grammatical gender than say French.
    - 5y ago