Esperanto as a way to defend language diversity
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Pierre Soubourou
Jun 26, 2012, 4:51:05 AM6/26/12
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Esperanto was created 125 years ago as a mean to bring peace, reduce nationalism, cancel elitism due to mastery of language (our own language as that of the dominant culture in our country).
Languages disappear every year, because the communities having their language are forced literally or economically to learn other languages of dominant cultures (russian, english, french, spanish, mandarin, turkisch...) or even forbidden from using their own: at school, for writing laws, signs, forbidden to sing their anthems, writing/editing books, etc.
This has happened in my region, Brittany (Bretagne, Breizh). We have a language that is closer to gaelic. Although now their are some roadsigns in that language for tourists, it is still not possible to learn it in school as the French do not allow it, centralizing everything around Paris, pushing for english as the other language. Now after centuries of Brittany being under the domination of the French, the children have forgotten the language of their parents and grand-parents, and many people from other cultures have settled in that region, making it theirs but not wanting to get into its culture.
Similar or worse problems are found everywhere around the world, and I believe a common, neutral language could be the solution both to this cultural loss and to improving our level of efficient communication.
The grammar is simple and regular, the sounds can be pronounced pretty much by any culture (some sounds are more difficult to pronounce than others). The vocabulary, if it resembles European languages is an excuse for making up words that can already be understood by many on the planet. Same with the alphabet, the latin one is used since it's so common on the planet, what is interesting is to use a restricted set of letters, each representing only one distinct sound.
I am active in the frame of S.A.T. (Sennacia Asocio Tutmonda), a progressive association which aims at bringing Esperanto to the people around the world, by spontaneous learning of workers, activists, organizations. Consequently, I'm not in favor of teaching Esperanto in schools, but rather to people taking a book, coming by themselves to courses, or learning by themselves: the language can be learned within about 3-6 months and you can expect to speak and write fluently within a year.
Kind regards
PS: many people are proud of their language and will attack me, I only ask that my attackers read the common attacks and their answers, looking on the internet a little bit, at least someone who should answer against me should read the article on Wikipedia about Esperanto before answering: we are always attacked by the same arguments and always get the same questions, so please let's move to some more interesting discussion.
Languages disappear every year, because the communities having their language are forced literally or economically to learn other languages of dominant cultures (russian, english, french, spanish, mandarin, turkisch...) or even forbidden from using their own: at school, for writing laws, signs, forbidden to sing their anthems, writing/editing books, etc.
This has happened in my region, Brittany (Bretagne, Breizh). We have a language that is closer to gaelic. Although now their are some roadsigns in that language for tourists, it is still not possible to learn it in school as the French do not allow it, centralizing everything around Paris, pushing for english as the other language. Now after centuries of Brittany being under the domination of the French, the children have forgotten the language of their parents and grand-parents, and many people from other cultures have settled in that region, making it theirs but not wanting to get into its culture.
Similar or worse problems are found everywhere around the world, and I believe a common, neutral language could be the solution both to this cultural loss and to improving our level of efficient communication.
The grammar is simple and regular, the sounds can be pronounced pretty much by any culture (some sounds are more difficult to pronounce than others). The vocabulary, if it resembles European languages is an excuse for making up words that can already be understood by many on the planet. Same with the alphabet, the latin one is used since it's so common on the planet, what is interesting is to use a restricted set of letters, each representing only one distinct sound.
I am active in the frame of S.A.T. (Sennacia Asocio Tutmonda), a progressive association which aims at bringing Esperanto to the people around the world, by spontaneous learning of workers, activists, organizations. Consequently, I'm not in favor of teaching Esperanto in schools, but rather to people taking a book, coming by themselves to courses, or learning by themselves: the language can be learned within about 3-6 months and you can expect to speak and write fluently within a year.
Kind regards
PS: many people are proud of their language and will attack me, I only ask that my attackers read the common attacks and their answers, looking on the internet a little bit, at least someone who should answer against me should read the article on Wikipedia about Esperanto before answering: we are always attacked by the same arguments and always get the same questions, so please let's move to some more interesting discussion.
Langoland
Jun 26, 2012, 10:42:32 PM6/26/12
to language-do...@endangeredlanguages.com
about Esperanto created by Zamenhof, if you want to learn thematic vocabulary :
Suvi-Tuuli Allan
Jun 29, 2012, 7:59:24 PM6/29/12
to language-do...@endangeredlanguages.com
As much as I like Esperanto, it is NOT the solution to these problems. Esperanto is Euro-centric and based on the most powerful languages in Europe. How does that help anyone? Finnish is my native language, and Esperanto has absolutely no relation to Finnish. *shrug*
Neeta Inari
Jun 30, 2012, 5:37:07 AM6/30/12
to language-do...@endangeredlanguages.com
I'm posting this link since you do not seem to be aware of some pretty pertinent arguments against the idea that another auxiliary language could really be the solution:
Arne Wilstrup
Dec 15, 2012, 9:07:52 AM12/15/12
to language-do...@endangeredlanguages.com
Den lørdag den 30. juni 2012 01.59.24 UTC+2 skrev Suvi-Tuuli Allan:
As much as I like Esperanto, it is NOT the solution to these problems. Esperanto is Euro-centric and based on the most powerful languages in Europe. How does that help anyone? Finnish is my native language, and Esperanto has absolutely no relation to Finnish. *shrug*
I am learning your language even it is rather difficult, especially the grammer. The reason for this is that I have some family in Finland, who are very old and therefore not capable to learn another language nor interested in doing so.
Esperanto, however, has a simple grammar and is spoken of more than a million people all over the world so it doesn't seem to be a problem that it has been invented by a Polish physician - even Chinese people find it more simple than English.
The idea is not that Esperanto should overtake the role of any national language, but is is seen as a means of communication: you keep your own national language and use Esperanto as an auxiliary language which helps you to communicate with people who speak about their naitive endangered language but use the simple auxiliary language Esperanto to talk about it -and even get more people interested in their language. My young daughter for instance are learning Lakota, because she is interested in Indian culture and by the aid of Esperanto she is learning the Lakota-language - so there is certainly a good reason for learning Esperanto. You might say that what takes years to become skilled in English, would take months in learing Esperanto - so the time you use to learn it is not an issue according to English. You can learn English a lot of years and never become more that well-educated - but within months you could become eloquent in Esperanto and talk with people alle over the world no matter how complicated their language is.
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