Esperanto anyone? - Learn the worlds easiest second language - in 3 months or less!

Very cool thread! I cannot understand why there are so many negative responses.

I think it is awesome! An exciting and fun learning project to undertake. Thanks for your thread - I'm off to learn Esperanto!

And as Sarra1833 said above me, learning a language is one of the best ways to turn back the clock on one's brain.

everything gets its 15 minutes of Fame...I recall the push to accept Esperanto as a desired universal language, then the Eubonics craze followed ... re packaged as 'Ebonic' probably because the EWE-bonics pronunciation was too loaded with a negative connotation



Ebonics is another try by the progressives to get legitimacy for street speak/ Gangsta talk as a legitimate 'Language'


see: Ebonics - Definition and More from the Free Merriam ...


www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ebonics

... Origin of EBONICS. blend of ebony and phonics. First Known Use: 1973. Other Language Terms. cognate, collocation, homonym [...]

originally posted by: JohnPhoenix

originally posted by: Tucket

originally posted by: JohnPhoenix

originally posted by: Nyiah
I gave Esperanto a whirl in my teens, as I did with most languages. While it is simple to grasp, it never resonated with me, and I don't recall any of it today.

Basically, being a created language and not a naturally blossoming one, it's as much a novelty as Klingon or Elvish is. That doesn't mean it's not valid, you can communicate with it. It's simply so seldom spoken & unnecessary that it's just like a novelty item. Cool to look at/have, but virtually useless on a wider scale until it catches on. With that, I bid you qapla'.

A common reason for learning this would be to visit another country like Germany for instance. I would be able to learn and speak Esperanto with a German speaker much faster than i could learn German or he English.

I dont see the value as most Germans under seventy already speak English. As someone who teaches English and is learning Spanish I have to say that learning English isnt nearly as hard as your making it out to be. Also, English is spreading like wildfire around the world and there are a lot more non native speakers of English than Native. Like the other poster I see this Language as a novelty. Good presentation tho s&f

Your problem is

My problem?


Yes, English can be a bit more difficult for Chinese learners, usually in terms of pronunciation. However, this hardly justifies your cause. English is just too developed in non native English speaking countries for Esperanto to be taken seriously. To view it as a practical language is a pipe dream imo.

a reply to: JohnPhoenix

Why Esperanto is not suitable to be an international language

Esperanto is too Eurocentric. The grammar could be a lot easier like in Mandarin Chinese for example.

Synonyms and many borrowed words make it just as difficult as any other language.

There are many prefixes and suffixes in Esperanto to create basically any new word that could ever be needed so why keep borrowing from Latin and French making it's vocabulary build more and more from unknown root words instead of building from all of the prefixes and suffixes with the root words already there? It just adds to the time of learning, creates more need for memorization, and doesn't use its full potential.

It borrows words, not just from Romance languages (such as Latin, French, italian, etc) but it also borrows some words from Germanic languages such as English. This is not a good combination. If it would have stuck with one language family at least certain group of people who speak those natural languages would understand all of the basic words of Esperanto; but because Esperanto borrows from different European language families (not just Romance but Germanic) , now no one can recognize its basic meanings without learning it except for a word or two.

It has letters that doesn't work well for modern technology (Ĉĉ, Ĝĝ, Ĥĥ, Ĵĵ, Ŝŝ, Ŭŭ). It should has stuck with basic letters that are common if it really wants to be an 'international' language. Also, the sound of Ĥ and Ĵ are not common sounds. Ĥ sounds something like the German "ch" sound such as Lochness Monster, or Bach - or similar to the Hebrew or Arabic sound "ch" such as Chanukah. It is just not a common sound and is difficult for most people around the world to pronounce. Definition not an 'internationally' recognized sound.

Suggestions for an easily learned international language

Adapt a simple form of grammar like Mandarin Chinese.

Do not have many different words for the same meaning (Synonyms). Remember this is an international language, it is supposed to be designed so that people around the world can understand each other, not an art for poetry.

Borrow words that most people already know around the world. For example, "ok" can mean "yes", "cool" can mean "good" or "well" or "awesome", since 2/3 of the world already knows some basic words in English, when in doubt, the words should be borrowed from common words from English.

Keep it phonetic by spelling each word as it sounds, but also use letters that are common so that speakers of major language can already understand without having to learn new letters for sounds (like the Ĥĥ and Ĵĵ situation). For example, "cool" can be written as "kul". Names should be phonetically spelled too so that speakers of this language will know how to pronounce it, while it's original spelling can be in parenthesis (). For example, Christopher would be written as "kristofer (Christopher)".

Borrowed names of people, places or foods would be treated as titles so that people can have a clue about what you are referring to, for example "The person Matthew is...", "The city New York is...", "The food pizza is..." .

just a few suggestions (and even these may not be enough for an International Language)

a reply to: cosmicexplorer

Cosmicexplorer here is the reason I heard about Esperanto in the first place. He mentioned it in another one of my threads. I have to give you Kudos for that again because for the past two days I have been devouring everything I can find about the language.

Say you wanna travel the world on a budget. Esperanto speakers have their own travel agency that hooks up travelers with host houses you can stay at for free. You not expected to pay anything and food is included. All that is required is you enjoy your hosts company speaking Esperanto while exploring the city. Saves people tons of money.

Esperanto doesn't have a national culture because it's an international language but it is rich in culture that's sprang up in the past 200 years.

Here is a good place I found with a unique way to teach any language to get you speaking conversationally very quickly. I'm going to try this with Esperanto ilanguages.org...

I made a thread about it here: iLanguages dot org - Learn many languges in the fastest way possible www.abovetopsecret.com...

a reply to: arpgme

Interesting post. Your points may have some validity, I cannot tell yet as I haven't learned the language yet. I know it is the most popular and easiest to learn of all as of this date.

If you have such a grasp on the problems and solutions then perhaps you may wish to design your alternative second language. I would very much like to see that. You seem to understand the mechanics of language much better than I. There have been attempts to fix some things people felt were wrong with Esperanto but most Esperanto speakers say these are minor and trivial. The main Esperanto movement has not been taken over by a more popular fork.

a reply to: cosmicexplorer

You mentioned Live Mocha and Duolingo as places you like to learn from. I can find Esperanto lessons at Live mocha but cannot seem to find them at Duolingo? Do you know whats up with this?

a reply to: JohnPhoenix

duolingo doesnt thave esperanto ..just a few..but the system is really good if you want to learn one of the others offered...