5 ms·

Why not Esperanto?

by boredemployee 4y ago

Why not Esperanto?

Terretta 4y ago
Your sense of satire is quite evolved.
- boredemployee 4y ago
  Finally someone noticed!
UnpossibleJim 4y ago
I was waiting for it! Thank you. I knew the most educated, elite among us would arise. All hail Esperanto. Duly elected leader of the post industrial, constructed languages =)
flipcoder 4y ago
I actually like Esperanto and the concept of constructed languages in general a lot. Esperanto's grammar is very logical and easy to learn. Its a shame there's not much online content in it and the community is fairly small in comparison to what is often claimed. They actually have a Duolingo course and Google Translate works with it, so that's something.
yomkippur 4y ago
yeah but it sounds so horrible
- leke 4y ago
  It went for regularity instead of naturality. If you want to sacrifice a little regularity, for naturality, check out Interlingue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interlingue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interlingue
  - CRConrad 4y ago
    Knowing nothing about either language as such, the name seems utterly weird: According to Wikipedia, it was created (as "Occidental") in 1922 and renamed to "Interlingue" in 1949. WP also notes: "Not to be confused with Interlingua..." But the linked page for Interlingua says: "Interlingua [...] is an international auxiliary language (IAL) developed between 1937 and 1951..." So why the heck did they rename Occidental to something that differs by one letter from another language that they must have known about?!? Just totally baffling.
    - leke 4y ago
      It was renamed from Occidental because some weird group (communist I think) calling themselves something similar and that was being associating with the language Occidentalists. As for the name change, I think it has a very general meaning, like amongst-language with the e ending being typical for Occidental nouns and the a ending for Interlingua nouns (maybe). Weirdly enough, the name push was by a guy called Ric Berger who was a Occidentalist who moved to Interlingua and probably played a part in naming both languages. BTW, both languages are very similar in vocabulary roots with Interlingua drawing inspiration from Occidental during its development (if I understood correctly).
      - CRConrad 4y ago
        Ah, I see, thanks. First thing that springs to mind: So maybe this Berger guy was trying to force or at least encourage a merger?
        leke 4y ago
        Yes, I think that is the case. There is a bit more history between Interlingue and Interlingua than I have mentioned, and I think Ric played a part of that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ric_Berger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ric_Berger
leke 4y ago
Because it's the most popular constructed language, and despite all it's publicity and fanaticism, it still didn't take off. For me, there was something that just seemed off about the language. I mean it's usable and useful and all that jazz, but I just didn't like using it. In some ways, as a language, it feels unfinished, or unpolished, and it seems stuck in its ways. But then there are those who would argue anything different would not be Esperanto, and I can see their point. For me, the great international language has still to be invented, or perhaps has existed for many decades, but has yet to go viral. The whole concept of an international language might just be like religion though. There are some that will never embrace it. There are some that will prefer one over the other and never change, and some that might convert. The solution to a universal language might be multiple universal languages (lol). For example, Occidental, Oriental and African. As long as they are easy to learn while being precise enough that miscommunication through ambiguity is difficult. You start with the language that is local to you, thus giving you access to many people and local trading partners. Then if you want, you can branch out to areas that interest you. It should even be possible for someone from the African area to speak with another from the Oriental area if both have learned Occidental, for example.

Why not Esperanto?

Terretta 4y ago

Your sense of satire is quite evolved.

boredemployee 4y ago
Finally someone noticed!

UnpossibleJim 4y ago

I was waiting for it! Thank you. I knew the most educated, elite among us would arise. All hail Esperanto. Duly elected leader of the post industrial, constructed languages =)

flipcoder 4y ago

I actually like Esperanto and the concept of constructed languages in general a lot. Esperanto's grammar is very logical and easy to learn. Its a shame there's not much online content in it and the community is fairly small in comparison to what is often claimed. They actually have a Duolingo course and Google Translate works with it, so that's something.

yomkippur 4y ago

yeah but it sounds so horrible

leke 4y ago
It went for regularity instead of naturality. If you want to sacrifice a little regularity, for naturality, check out Interlingue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interlingue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interlingue
- CRConrad 4y ago
  Knowing nothing about either language as such, the name seems utterly weird: According to Wikipedia, it was created (as "Occidental") in 1922 and renamed to "Interlingue" in 1949. WP also notes: "Not to be confused with Interlingua..." But the linked page for Interlingua says: "Interlingua [...] is an international auxiliary language (IAL) developed between 1937 and 1951..." So why the heck did they rename Occidental to something that differs by one letter from another language that they must have known about?!? Just totally baffling.
  - leke 4y ago
    It was renamed from Occidental because some weird group (communist I think) calling themselves something similar and that was being associating with the language Occidentalists. As for the name change, I think it has a very general meaning, like amongst-language with the e ending being typical for Occidental nouns and the a ending for Interlingua nouns (maybe). Weirdly enough, the name push was by a guy called Ric Berger who was a Occidentalist who moved to Interlingua and probably played a part in naming both languages. BTW, both languages are very similar in vocabulary roots with Interlingua drawing inspiration from Occidental during its development (if I understood correctly).
    - CRConrad 4y ago
      Ah, I see, thanks. First thing that springs to mind: So maybe this Berger guy was trying to force or at least encourage a merger?
      - leke 4y ago
        Yes, I think that is the case. There is a bit more history between Interlingue and Interlingua than I have mentioned, and I think Ric played a part of that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ric_Berger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ric_Berger

leke 4y ago

Because it's the most popular constructed language, and despite all it's publicity and fanaticism, it still didn't take off. For me, there was something that just seemed off about the language. I mean it's usable and useful and all that jazz, but I just didn't like using it. In some ways, as a language, it feels unfinished, or unpolished, and it seems stuck in its ways. But then there are those who would argue anything different would not be Esperanto, and I can see their point. For me, the great international language has still to be invented, or perhaps has existed for many decades, but has yet to go viral. The whole concept of an international language might just be like religion though. There are some that will never embrace it. There are some that will prefer one over the other and never change, and some that might convert. The solution to a universal language might be multiple universal languages (lol). For example, Occidental, Oriental and African. As long as they are easy to learn while being precise enough that miscommunication through ambiguity is difficult. You start with the language that is local to you, thus giving you access to many people and local trading partners. Then if you want, you can branch out to areas that interest you. It should even be possible for someone from the African area to speak with another from the Oriental area if both have learned Occidental, for example.