Is Esperanto a good language to learn? Why or why not
This has been talked about before, but here goes a summary.
YES: Itâs simple, itâs easy, itâs fast. You can learn how a language and language learning âworksâ and it will be a good warmup and practice to learning your real language. Itâs also fun in and of itself and you can meet other people with the same interests.
NO: Itâs not a real language, there are no native speakers, no culture to access, and it takes time away from your real learning goals. Even people without social lives donât learn this language because even they learn Klingon or Elf. At least you might see those in a movie and you have a a pretend culture to go with your pretend language.
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What courses have you used to learn Spanish?
There was a time when Esperanto was a good idea, but the world has changed, and more importantly, language learning has changed. For better or worse, we have settled on English as the de facto international language, and at the same time, a MASSIVE amount of material to study and absorb this and any other language has become available to pretty much everyone within walking distance to an electric outlet.
So, the idea of an international language that youâd have to study solely by old-school methods I just donât think is sustainable anymore.
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Esperanto was and is a political tool designed to try and destroy culture.
Not even a real language.
No culture.
No country.
No point.
@Drew Peacock:
ââŚEsperanto was and is a political tool designed to try and destroy culture. Not even a real language. No culture. No country. No pointâŚâ
This is one of those things which, though essentially true, cannot be said today on account of causing offence to an Esperantistsâ identity and sense of self-worth.
Arguably you have just committed a âthought crimeâ! :-0
I completely agree that Esperanto will never become popular enough to dominate English. Which country is personally interested in supporting Esperanto anyway?
There are certain pre-requisites to a âthought crimeâ that may not be present in these posts 
I guess the US Constitution protects against the whole concept of a thought crime? Itâs a different thing here in modern Britain, I fear.
If I went into the street and handed out leaflets saying something which could be construed by some person as offensive to his/her religion (unless Christian), identity, culture, gender (unless male), sexuality (unless straight)âŚetcâŚwell, I might literally get trouble from the police :-0
And facts (for example demonstrable truths, statistics, biology, and so on) wonât cut any ice whatsoever!
That being said, my post above about Esperanto is somewhat tongue in cheek, of course.
I took Spanish for a few years in high school, and one class in semester in college, which I slept through. I also did all the Pimsleur levels of their âofficialâ complete course.
Then I found LingQ.
The bulk of my learning was spent reading Spanish newspapers that I imported into LingQ. I also read Steveâs book and a few others in the library at LingQ. Then, because LingQ stopped supporting the non-latest version of the iPhone and iPad, and after I had nearly 30K words, I started âlisteningâ and âreadingâ the Spanish telenovelas on netflix with the spanish subtitles on to âcatch upâ my listening hours
The Mezzofanti Guild guy tore Esperanto to pieces on his youtube channel and the absolute bile and vitriol from the Esperantists was staggering.
Iâve not got anything against conlangs but Esperanto was designed with a specific goal in mind - linking all cultures together via common language. What happens when someone has the goal of melding multiple cultures ? They become one big culture, and all the other smaller cultures, nuances and outlooks are destroyed.
Obviously coming from a white traditionalist man in western Europe, this would be considered âfascistâ or something by someone who doesnât know what a fascist really is. But the reality is if we went to some tribe and told them they didnât need to speak their language or practice their own culture because they can just take English and western consumerist culture, we (Europe) would be panned and called racist, colonialist, bigoted etc.
ALL cultures should be preserved. All of themâŚas long as the people who practice them WANT to carry on practising them. I donât want European culture destroyed. I donât want to see white people become brown. I donât want brown people to become lighter. I want everyone to practice their own cultures and embrace who THEY are and what their own heritage and culture is. Seems everyone else is allowed to do it though.
Oh, there are native speakers all right. And thereâs a Esperanto culture as well:
I agree, but there ARE actually native Esperanto speakers.
Total nonsense. Linking to a nonsense wikipedia article doesnât make it so either. Multiple ethnicities, multiple countries of birth, multiple cultures, multiple customs, multiple religions. These are the attributes that define Esperanto. Iâll leave you to figure out why that means it has no culture.
Youâre welcome.
arenât you the same guy that was mocking how japanese speak in another post ?
Even if i was, what would that have to do with my post here ? Can i take the piss out of English Geordies and still at the same time want them to remain a distinct group ? Yes. So i donât see your point.
And no, i wasnât. The post contained the word Yuta which to me sounded like Yuda which is in the title of a Frank Zappa song which i posted the lyrics to. You should listen to it, itâs good.
Thanks for dropping by.
The discussion was about whether there are native Esperanto speakers and the fact is that there are. The link points to a discussion about the topic which offers primary sources that prove that fact. If you prefer hereâs a link to a Wikipedia discussion about specifically that point. Again, the most important part here are the references to primary sources:
Not that I expect a notorious troll to grasp the difference between factual information and how to document evidence for it, and rants such as âEsperanto destroying cultureâ, though
Iâm only a âtrollâ because i say stuff you donât like.
Is there a reason youâve purposefully overlooked the fact that i was answering your comment on culture ? I said nothing about native speakers. But you canât refute my stance on culture and so choose to ignore the fact that that was what i was talking about. Very sly.
âThe discussion was about whether there are native Esperanto speakers and the fact is that there are.â Nope. You said:
âOh, there are native speakers all right. And thereâs a Esperanto culture as wellâŚâ And i replied:
â[other stuff]âŚIâll leave you to figure out why that means it has no cultureâŚâ
Clearly i was referencing your reference to culture. Are you very poor at following the direction of a conversation or are you purposefully obtuse ? I think we both know the answer.
Youâre a troll because you systematically choose to insult users on this forum for absolutely no reason. Thatâs a verifiable fact, just as the existence of native Esperanto speakers.
But, since you seem to be writing in a relatively decent way on this occasion [the bar is sooo loe], Iâll give you the benefit of the doubt and explain. Iâm ready to go back to âdonât feed the trollâ mode, as soon as you show signs of your usual self.
You mentioned the Wkipedia link. That was meant to show data about Esperanto native speakers, which you can easily see by the fact that I link the particular paragraph, where that issue is addressed. Thatâs why I refer to that particular point in my reply.
As for the general issue of an âEsperanto cultureâ, I donât have a very strong opinion one way or the other. I think itâs mostly a matter of semantics. Culture is an ambiguous concept. It depends on how you define it.
I donât âsystematicallyâ insult anyone. I call it how i see it. If iâm constantly on at certain people itâs because i think they talk rubbish, obviously.
Despite your oh so worrying threat you seem to be overlooking the fact that you are just repeating your nonsense from your other comment which i already refuted. I never said anything about native speakers and donât care either way, so i donât know what your point is. Our discussion has been about the lack of Esperanto culture.
You see, i already pointed out why you going on about native speakers is nonsense and nothing to do with our conversation (youâre the one clinging to it despite the fact that i never mentioned it. Not once) and yet here you are repeating yourself. And you wonder why my comments come across as âtrollâ like ? Maybe itâs because i donât suffer fools and that upsets you ? Maybe if you stopped being stupid iâd stop âtrollingâ you (read: putting you straight because youâre usually wrong).
Cheers.