I kind of think a thing that's neglected in many discussions about Esperanto is its history of having been part of anti-fascist movements globally in the early 1900s. Not to mention that its always been a language of subalterns, considering its founder was a Jewish man living in a time and place where antisemitic violence was pretty common and his family and many of the original Esperantists were killed during the holocaust. I think people conveniently forget that because it isn't as fun to think about compared to for example thinking of Esperanto as a springboard for learning other languages. I say this as a person of color learning Esperanto who's really saddened by people's selective memory and erasure of cultures.
nolfpr Totally agree, but I think only those new to the movement don't realise how bloody it's history really is. Esperantists have endured massive loses for the ideals of their language and I think when people finally learn this, they grow to further respect the language overall. I'll make a video on this in the future.
Evildea I see, I guess I just haven't run into much discussion of it so far. I originally had that same ignorant opinion that Esperanto was a cultureless tool. After just doing a simple Google search(something I guess a lot of people don't do), I ran into the actual history of it and had my perspective changed. Two things I had never ever seen mentioned anywhere else was that Esperanto was targeted because it was seen as a "Global Jewish Conspiracy" by Hitler and also was a means of resistance for anti-fascist fighters in the Spanish Civil War and the East Asian front of WW2. This is all from a language that was meant to be neutral by Zamenhof, something that kind of drives home the idea that the language is subaltern. Subalterns are never allowed to be neutral by the people who wish to oppress them.
I love Esperanto and the culture. I'm still just a beginner, but the more I get into it, the more I love it all. Esperanto havas la plej bona komunumo. Mi amas paroli ĝin multe kaj mi sentas min tre feliĉa esti parton de la komunumon.
I think it's better to think of Esperanto as a sort of subculture. What I mean by that is that Esperantujo is nobody's main culture. It's always a culture that you have besides your main culture. Just like Punk is nobody's main culture. It is a subculture of western culture. Now what is interesting about Esperanto, and what seperates it from other cultures, is firstly it's age. Most subcultures arise and die within one generation or less. And secondly its global nature. Esperantujo is not a subculture *of* any other culture. I mean there are Chinese Punks, but they're always members of the Chinese Punk subculture, a subculture of Chinese culture heavily influenced by a western subculture. Esperanto isn't like that. While there are Chinese esperantists, there is no Chinese esperantujo. There is only esperantujo.
somewony I think Esperanto culture is more in line with religious culture. Religious culture is world wide and persistent and exists along side the normal culture. I'm not saying Esperanto is a religion, but the culture of it works in the same way.
I love your videos on the culture of Esperanto. I have been using Duolingo to learn Esperanto since july of last year, and really love the language as its a little goofy, but can also sound awesome. I also have the Spanish and German courses as my primary, and i can definitely see their influence on Esperanto. I love that at a lot of Esperanto gatherings theres a focus on togetherness and giving Indigenous people a place to speak and be welcome is also beautiful. No language is perfect, and Esperanto is no exception but i adore how open minded people are. thank you :D
I have been learning Esperanto and it's history for about four months as of Sunday June fifth 1:06 pm 2016, I see Esperanto as a culture of hope and of peace. Even the name Esperanto means one who hopes,this is the language of hopeful ones. La lingvo de oni esperplena.★
+Evildea well I have to keep track of the time so when I am trying to convert people to Esperanto I can say see I know this much in this little time and I can also use that to make me seem smart learning a language in such a short amount of time.
Older video, but I find it amusing people think the idea of an international tool for communication to unite the peoples of the world (by facilitating communication, of course) is devoid of ideology. It has an ideology, and a very positive and hopeful one. Any secondary language that's easy to learn and created for this purpose (I love Lojban, too!) must be born of a desire to see mankind come to some greater understanding of solidarity and compassion. There's obviously an ideology and culture behind it, and that's why it has been suppressed various times during periods of fascistic or otherwise authoritarian jingoism; they didn't throw people in jail just for making noises with their mouths, it's what those noises represented... a break away from nationalistic, isolationist sentiment that seeks to "other" those of other nations and language groups. My two cents. Of course it's ideological, it exists because of a (again, pretty damn positive and good) ideology. Thumbs up.
Tor Thatch There are so many good resources, but an simple easy to utilise one is the Esperanto Wikipedia. Then English Wikipedia also has some basic articles (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Esperanto). However, there are also many, many good books. Check out www.esperanto-usa.org/retbutiko/index.php? for English books and some Esperanto book on Esperanto.
Pretty sure Zamenhof actually made the language with the idea that there SHOULDN'T be any culture or country or ethnicity behind Esperanto, so it could be more welcoming and open to any one. Tying it to an ideology or culture can make people less willing to even look into learning it. Using Esperanto to push your politics or culture is probably the worst possible thing you can do for the spread of Esperanto.
Eble vi pravas, ke tiu ĉi Esperanto-kulturo estas malbona por la disvastigo de Esperanto, tamen mi devas atentigi, ke dum Zamenhof ja kreis ĉi tiun lingvon por esti neŭtrala, tra la generacioj la kulturo nature evoluis por esti tia, kia ĝi estas hodiaŭ. Esperanto-kulturo evoluis por esti tiel dum tempodaŭro, Esperanto ne estis intence ligita al politiko kaj ideologioj, tiuj ligoj okazis hazarde. Perhaps you are right that this Esperanto culture is bad for the spread of Esperanto, however I must point out that while Zamenhof did create this language to be neutral, through the generations the culture has naturally evolved to be what it is today. Esperanto culture evolved to be this way over a period of time, Esperanto was not intentionally connected to politics and ideologies, those connections happened by chance.
Mi havas studas esperanton por dek ok tagoj kaj mi amas la kulturon multe, kvankam mi estas komencanton, mi estas ekscitita al lernos pli pri ĝin! Saluton el Nov-Zelando!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd say Esperanto is a subculture. It's unique as a subculture seeing as it's an international, global subculture by definition, just like Esperanto is meant to be everyone's second language, not their primary language. I don't think calling it a subculture makes it any less important, but I am interested in learning more about the history and culture behind Esperanto.
SMFortissimo Hi, whatever word someone uses doesn't really matter :P Though, I'd equate it more to a non-exclusive culture in diaspora. But of course, people can use the language how ever they want :D
Another great video. Although I'm relatively new to the movado (I only started learning Eo a year and a half ago) I feel the same way. Esperanto is a really big passion of mine and it really is becoming a way of life for me. I'm reading a lot of material, plan to go to some congresses over the summer and might even set up a blog! What I'm trying to say is that I feel the same, Esperanto is more than just a language, its a whole outlook on life.
Robert Nielsen Awesome to hear! The best part is I've been at it for five years and I'm still discovering so much stuff everyday that I never knew about.
Robert Nielsen I just started really seriously studying it about a week and a half ago. Just looking at Esperantist forums, it's been interesting to see the diverse topics being spoken on by people from virtually everywhere.
lovinglanguages1 Hi, it depends on your study style. I teach Esperanto using gaming vids: ruclips.net/p/PLHU-vW5ti_DKwTj87tnSnc-j9t29p3Bbz Alternatively, you could use the Duolingo course here: www.duolingo.com/course/eo/en/Learn-Esperanto-Online
Tio parolad-ado bone funkcius kiel antaŭparolo por lernolibro :-D Vi tute pravas, ke oni devas sciigi la (multnombrajn, interalie pro la publikigo de la Duolingo-kurso) lernantojn de Esperanto, ke ili ne nur lernas lingvon, sed ankaŭ akiras bileton/pasporton al tute unika mondo, nome Esperantujo.
+FaroeJuggler Your choice. You can do whatever you want with the language. There are many many Esperanto speakers who speak it without committing to anything.
I feel the same way. While the whole Esperanto sub-culture is interesting to learn about, I'm learning Esperanto as part of a 90-day challenge to see how close I can get to functional in it in a short time. I also want to use it as a tool to learn how to learn a language. My next language will be Latin after Esperanto.
Mi volas fari komikoj en esperanto. Sed mi bezonas ankau lerni multe. Cxu vi havas ian konsilojn pri min? Vi scias ian komikoj en esperanto mi povas trovi?
I follow Metatron, an italian historian who usually debunks misconceptions about historic events, people and cultures. I was so disappointed when he made a video on Esperanto and said he would never learn it because it has no culture and feels empty. By that he showed that he is not the researcher I thought he was. He obviously knows nothing about today's Esperanto movement, but "feels" that there is no culture.
I think Esperanto has ended up becoming the opposite of a universal language and has become a small group with its own idiosyncrasies which seems strange to outsiders. That said I don't have a huge problem with it.
Esperanto has no culture krokodili - Wiktionaryen.wiktionary.org It has untranslatable slang words that might be 100-years old but it´s not a real langauge and it has no culture! to be fair, "culture" and "language" are really hard to define when you think about it. like...if you made up a language....how long would it take before it becomes "real" and before there´s some kind of culture around it?Does Latin have a culture? Does Latin-related culture belong to all Romance languages as well? Does a language that "split of" from another language 2,000 years ago have more culture than a "new" lagnguage like Afrikaans? Does a French word with a 2000-year-old history going back to latin and PIE and stuff somehow reflect a culture or history that is not reflected in it´s Esperanto equivalent with a similar spelling and meaning?
Personally I would start from its literature, particularly its poetry. When you are able to discuss some of that, then we can discuss whether this is a culture or not.
This is really great, and gets me even more pumped about being involved in this culture!
DailGwyrdd Welcome to Esperantujo!
I kind of think a thing that's neglected in many discussions about Esperanto is its history of having been part of anti-fascist movements globally in the early 1900s. Not to mention that its always been a language of subalterns, considering its founder was a Jewish man living in a time and place where antisemitic violence was pretty common and his family and many of the original Esperantists were killed during the holocaust. I think people conveniently forget that because it isn't as fun to think about compared to for example thinking of Esperanto as a springboard for learning other languages. I say this as a person of color learning Esperanto who's really saddened by people's selective memory and erasure of cultures.
nolfpr Totally agree, but I think only those new to the movement don't realise how bloody it's history really is. Esperantists have endured massive loses for the ideals of their language and I think when people finally learn this, they grow to further respect the language overall. I'll make a video on this in the future.
Evildea I see, I guess I just haven't run into much discussion of it so far. I originally had that same ignorant opinion that Esperanto was a cultureless tool. After just doing a simple Google search(something I guess a lot of people don't do), I ran into the actual history of it and had my perspective changed. Two things I had never ever seen mentioned anywhere else was that Esperanto was targeted because it was seen as a "Global Jewish Conspiracy" by Hitler and also was a means of resistance for anti-fascist fighters in the Spanish Civil War and the East Asian front of WW2. This is all from a language that was meant to be neutral by Zamenhof, something that kind of drives home the idea that the language is subaltern. Subalterns are never allowed to be neutral by the people who wish to oppress them.
nolfpr Very good points. I'll definitely make a video in the future so when others do a search they can easily find that information :)
Evildea Thank you, that's much appreciated!
Basically we have two types of families: the ones we are born in and the ones we choose.
I choose you!
I love Esperanto and the culture. I'm still just a beginner, but the more I get into it, the more I love it all.
Esperanto havas la plej bona komunumo. Mi amas paroli ĝin multe kaj mi sentas min tre feliĉa esti parton de la komunumon.
***** Welcome to the community! Feel free to ask me any questions you may have :)
Evildea Thank you very much!
Mi estas komencanto en Esperanto.
mi estas komencanto ankau.mi uzas Duolingo.
ankaŭ mi uzas duolingo, ĝi estas tre bona ilo :)
Saluton! Mi estas komencanto en la Esperanto ankau. Mi volas trovi Esperantistoj al parolas al mi. Tie ne estas multe de nin.
Saluton! Mi estas komencanto en la Esperanto ankau. Mi volas parolI kun vi. aagorobets@gmail.com Cxie-tie estas multe de nin. Alekso
Same
I think it's better to think of Esperanto as a sort of subculture.
What I mean by that is that Esperantujo is nobody's main culture. It's always a culture that you have besides your main culture. Just like Punk is nobody's main culture. It is a subculture of western culture.
Now what is interesting about Esperanto, and what seperates it from other cultures, is firstly it's age. Most subcultures arise and die within one generation or less. And secondly its global nature. Esperantujo is not a subculture *of* any other culture. I mean there are Chinese Punks, but they're always members of the Chinese Punk subculture, a subculture of Chinese culture heavily influenced by a western subculture. Esperanto isn't like that. While there are Chinese esperantists, there is no Chinese esperantujo. There is only esperantujo.
somewony I think Esperanto culture is more in line with religious culture. Religious culture is world wide and persistent and exists along side the normal culture. I'm not saying Esperanto is a religion, but the culture of it works in the same way.
somewony Esperanto is a very European language. It may not have a country but it does have a continent.
Great! Gratulon! Al mi multe plaĉis tio, kion vi diris, ekde la komenco ĝis la fino!
Leonardo Cassanho Forster Dankegon :D
I love your videos on the culture of Esperanto. I have been using Duolingo to learn Esperanto since july of last year, and really love the language as its a little goofy, but can also sound awesome. I also have the Spanish and German courses as my primary, and i can definitely see their influence on Esperanto. I love that at a lot of Esperanto gatherings theres a focus on togetherness and giving Indigenous people a place to speak and be welcome is also beautiful. No language is perfect, and Esperanto is no exception but i adore how open minded people are. thank you :D
I have been learning Esperanto and it's history for about four months as of Sunday June fifth 1:06 pm 2016, I see Esperanto as a culture of hope and of peace. Even the name Esperanto means one who hopes,this is the language of hopeful ones. La lingvo de oni esperplena.★
That is so cool that you know when you started learning! I can't even remember the year correctly!
+Evildea well I have to keep track of the time so when I am trying to convert people to Esperanto I can say see I know this much in this little time and I can also use that to make me seem smart learning a language in such a short amount of time.
I don't really like the culture where I am, so I'm glad to be able to get a new one :)
Mi elkore gratulas vin por via grandega laboro por nia planeda lingvo. Vi nepre kaj nepre estos en ĝia historio. Saluton el tre malproksima lando.
Very nicely put, mate. I tend to agree with you.
Esperanto is becoming so much more relevant
Older video, but I find it amusing people think the idea of an international tool for communication to unite the peoples of the world (by facilitating communication, of course) is devoid of ideology. It has an ideology, and a very positive and hopeful one. Any secondary language that's easy to learn and created for this purpose (I love Lojban, too!) must be born of a desire to see mankind come to some greater understanding of solidarity and compassion. There's obviously an ideology and culture behind it, and that's why it has been suppressed various times during periods of fascistic or otherwise authoritarian jingoism; they didn't throw people in jail just for making noises with their mouths, it's what those noises represented... a break away from nationalistic, isolationist sentiment that seeks to "other" those of other nations and language groups. My two cents. Of course it's ideological, it exists because of a (again, pretty damn positive and good) ideology. Thumbs up.
Good points. Is there a good resource you use I should check out for Esperanto history and culture?
Tor Thatch There are so many good resources, but an simple easy to utilise one is the Esperanto Wikipedia. Then English Wikipedia also has some basic articles (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Esperanto). However, there are also many, many good books. Check out www.esperanto-usa.org/retbutiko/index.php? for English books and some Esperanto book on Esperanto.
"Bridge of Words" by Esther Schor. I could give you the names of a few other books.
Pretty sure Zamenhof actually made the language with the idea that there SHOULDN'T be any culture or country or ethnicity behind Esperanto, so it could be more welcoming and open to any one. Tying it to an ideology or culture can make people less willing to even look into learning it. Using Esperanto to push your politics or culture is probably the worst possible thing you can do for the spread of Esperanto.
Eble vi pravas, ke tiu ĉi Esperanto-kulturo estas malbona por la disvastigo de Esperanto, tamen mi devas atentigi, ke dum Zamenhof ja kreis ĉi tiun lingvon por esti neŭtrala, tra la generacioj la kulturo nature evoluis por esti tia, kia ĝi estas hodiaŭ. Esperanto-kulturo evoluis por esti tiel dum tempodaŭro, Esperanto ne estis intence ligita al politiko kaj ideologioj, tiuj ligoj okazis hazarde.
Perhaps you are right that this Esperanto culture is bad for the spread of Esperanto, however I must point out that while Zamenhof did create this language to be neutral, through the generations the culture has naturally evolved to be what it is today. Esperanto culture evolved to be this way over a period of time, Esperanto was not intentionally connected to politics and ideologies, those connections happened by chance.
Dankon por aldoni vian opinion pri nia kara lingvo. Mi konsentas kun viaj diraĵoj..sukceson!
+Ilia Dewi Nedankinde! :D
9:36 Haha, Ĉu vi spektas muzikon?
Mi vidas ĉion; mi kapablas vidi la ondojn en la eroj de la aero rezulte de la sonaj ondoj
Tio estas nekredebla!
Mi havas studas esperanton por dek ok tagoj kaj mi amas la kulturon multe, kvankam mi estas komencanton, mi estas ekscitita al lernos pli pri ĝin! Saluton el Nov-Zelando!
+Gansenblumchen Mi logxas el Norda Bordo, Auklando. Mi pensas ke gxi estos bona paroli. aagorobets@gmail.com Alekso
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd say Esperanto is a subculture. It's unique as a subculture seeing as it's an international, global subculture by definition, just like Esperanto is meant to be everyone's second language, not their primary language. I don't think calling it a subculture makes it any less important, but I am interested in learning more about the history and culture behind Esperanto.
SMFortissimo Hi, whatever word someone uses doesn't really matter :P Though, I'd equate it more to a non-exclusive culture in diaspora. But of course, people can use the language how ever they want :D
There are several international subcultures I can think of off the top of my head. Some of them even try and use Esperanto as a recruiting platform.
i love esperanto!!!! :)
I do too!! :D
Another great video. Although I'm relatively new to the movado (I only started learning Eo a year and a half ago) I feel the same way. Esperanto is a really big passion of mine and it really is becoming a way of life for me. I'm reading a lot of material, plan to go to some congresses over the summer and might even set up a blog!
What I'm trying to say is that I feel the same, Esperanto is more than just a language, its a whole outlook on life.
Robert Nielsen Awesome to hear! The best part is I've been at it for five years and I'm still discovering so much stuff everyday that I never knew about.
Robert Nielsen I just started really seriously studying it about a week and a half ago. Just looking at Esperantist forums, it's been interesting to see the diverse topics being spoken on by people from virtually everywhere.
What is the best way to start? I went to lernu.net but it seems a bit overwhelming!
lovinglanguages1 Hi, it depends on your study style.
I teach Esperanto using gaming vids: ruclips.net/p/PLHU-vW5ti_DKwTj87tnSnc-j9t29p3Bbz
Alternatively, you could use the Duolingo course here: www.duolingo.com/course/eo/en/Learn-Esperanto-Online
+Evildea Yeah, Esperanto is a fantastic way to learn. It helped me in growing from komencanto!
Tio parolad-ado bone funkcius kiel antaŭparolo por lernolibro :-D Vi tute pravas, ke oni devas sciigi la (multnombrajn, interalie pro la publikigo de la Duolingo-kurso) lernantojn de Esperanto, ke ili ne nur lernas lingvon, sed ankaŭ akiras bileton/pasporton al tute unika mondo, nome Esperantujo.
What if I just want to learn the language and maybe speak it with esperantists, but I don't want to commit to the culture or the ideas of Esperanto?
+FaroeJuggler Your choice. You can do whatever you want with the language. There are many many Esperanto speakers who speak it without committing to anything.
I feel the same way. While the whole Esperanto sub-culture is interesting to learn about, I'm learning Esperanto as part of a 90-day challenge to see how close I can get to functional in it in a short time. I also want to use it as a tool to learn how to learn a language. My next language will be Latin after Esperanto.
Mi volas fari komikoj en esperanto. Sed mi bezonas ankau lerni multe. Cxu vi havas ian konsilojn pri min? Vi scias ian komikoj en esperanto mi povas trovi?
Please stop the background music.
4:17 Unu Lingvo, unu familio!
Por ĉiam :P
Unu familio... incesto!
I follow Metatron, an italian historian who usually debunks misconceptions about historic events, people and cultures. I was so disappointed when he made a video on Esperanto and said he would never learn it because it has no culture and feels empty. By that he showed that he is not the researcher I thought he was. He obviously knows nothing about today's Esperanto movement, but "feels" that there is no culture.
What are some Esperanto songs or books?
Jar jar Binks Gerda Malaperis, La Infana Razo, Marvinostrato
Saluton! Mi loĝas en Melburno
Saluton! Mi loĝas en Sidnejo
@ 8.30 Why is Esperanto the only successful conlang?
Because Zamenhof was a modest guy, smart enough to let ordinary language-users build the language
"kabei" estus alia ekzemplo, kiu tute ne kompreneblas al alilingvanoj.
Ĝis la nokto-, nokto-fin'!
Y
Tu prima
I think Esperanto has ended up becoming the opposite of a universal language and has become a small group with its own idiosyncrasies which seems strange to outsiders.
That said I don't have a huge problem with it.
God's plan for Esperanto is to proclaim the Gospel in this language, too.
Esperanto has no culture
krokodili - Wiktionaryen.wiktionary.org
It has untranslatable slang words that might be 100-years old but it´s not a real langauge and it has no culture! to be fair, "culture" and "language" are really hard to define when you think about it.
like...if you made up a language....how long would it take before it becomes "real" and before there´s some kind of culture around it?Does Latin have a culture? Does Latin-related culture belong to all Romance languages as well? Does a language that "split of" from another language 2,000 years ago have more culture than a "new" lagnguage like Afrikaans? Does a French word with a 2000-year-old history going back to latin and PIE and stuff somehow reflect a culture or history that is not reflected in it´s Esperanto equivalent with a similar spelling and meaning?
Personally I would start from its literature, particularly its poetry. When you are able to discuss some of that, then we can discuss whether this is a culture or not.
It is real and it is a language so you’re wrong if you say that it’s not a real language