You're missing the point of Esperanto, Esperanto wasn't meant to replace our languages, it was meant to supplement them. It was to be a universal second language. The idea was that we're never going to get everyone to speak the same language, therefore the need to learn a second language is inevitable. Therefore, why not make it as easy as possible to fulfill that need. Esperanto was the way to do just that.
@@zipop7880: I speak Esperanto for more than 30 years. I is much easier than any other natural language - 6 months and you can communicate at higher level than after 6 years of learning English. It was never meant to replace your mother tongue, it was always meant to be auxiliary.
Except that is what english is. English was made into a super easy language and it is being learned all over the world. You would notice this if you learn other languages.
English only seems to be easy - mainly because of global influence of anglophone cultures. It looks easy and familiar, because everyday everyone is bombarded by English (recently mainly American version) music, movies, technology, tv, literature, press, etc. Why? Because big part of the world is or was a British colony or American protectorate. Before it was the same with French, and before it was the same with Latin in the middle ages, and before it was the same with Greek in the ancient times, etc. It has nothing to do with actual easiness of the language itself. French or Latin are not easy languages to learn. If not, why they were so commonly used in the past? Because the world's common language is usually the language of the recently dominating empire, no matter if the language is easy to learn or not.
He basically wanted a language to be used in world politics and business etc. But English ended up filling that roll. U SA economic power post ww2 made its language take the spot
lol that's not true, he has brought some valid reasons why he doesn't want to learn the language, whether you agree with it or not is up to you, these were his personal reasons, he didn't badmouth the language only for him it doesn't seem to make sense to learn it
It takes time and energy to learn a language and if it isn't so capable for it's intended purposes then there's no point learning it, sounds perfectly reasonable to me.
It's a shame that the video chose to be sensational instead of accurate and made many mistakes. - Esperanto is an international language, it's not the largest one, but it is still one. - There is a "true" speech community - There are no dialects of Esperanto so there is no fear that you might meet people who don't speak your dialect. Ido is a splinter language not a dialect. - Esperanto doesn't endanger any language, languages on the verge of extinction are under threat mainly from major languages like English.
Ryder Taiwan I do find it ironic how criticism of Esperanto like against a global language to endanger other languages, but support English as a globlal language which historically has suppressed and does endanger other languages. It is happening in the Philippines, how English words are being used more in other languages, like Bisaya. Esperanto does not replace any other language, as many polyglots learn Esperanto and continue to learn more languages afterwards. If a person has no interest in learning Esperanto, then they shouldn't. If they do then do it. I am in agreement, that Esperanto is mostly irrelevant, but that should not matter to someone who enjoys it nonetheless.
@@don_p7546 What language is your native language? I am in Ireland and will eventually learn Irish to fluency, so we’re still fighting to keep our native tongue here, albeit with great difficulty.
Esperanto is super fun to learn, I have a lot of friends and it got me interested into languages. The video is sadly out of subject. Instead of treating a language as a language, he treats it as a political thing. It is like saying I won't learn English because people learn English only for money. It is misrepresentation.
Reason #1: It's not yet the international language, but surely is a better option than english for that purpose. Reason #2: T'here's an active Esperanto speaking community and not only on the internet, in fact, in almost every city there's an esperanto club and, btw, if you learn Esperanto you'll notice quickly that in Esperanto, the speech pattern or the accent is very free, and not really important, so it's easier :) Reason #3: do you know that all human languages are created artificially? There's no such thing as a "natural language", all languages have been created at least by a prehistoric group of people, yes, including English. And learning Esperanto is not uncompatible with learning another foreign language, Esperanto is very easy and fast to learn and, if you learn it, you'll be able to learn other languages easier and faster (including minorised ones), it improves one's language-learning capacities, even more than any other language. This is why I learn Esperanto :)
Yeah, people have assumptions about Esperanto and totally ignore the community that speaks it. With already several generations of speakers and culture.
yes but the community of esperanto IS extremely little if you compare it to franch/spanish/english communities, i dont hate esperanto, but i prefer to learn english, is not hard and ther's a lot of ressources to learning/practice it
Kvazaux esperantiso, mi povas diri, ke esperantistoj estas tre strangxaj, ankaux multaj esperantistoj kaj esperanto-cluboj pli zorgas aktivismon pri esperanto, ol paroli la lingvon. Do jes, ekzistas komunumo, sed ne bona komunumo
Latam Nan Esperanto won't beat English. That is not in dispute. Can you site sources that English is already the biggest language in the world? You are implying it has the most speakers worldwide. I looked it up and English is #3 behind #1 Mandarin Chinese and #2 Spanish.
Esperanto also is a cypher, based on an existing language and having no grammar. Esperanto cannot exist without real living languages to take the grammar from. Esperanto had several incompatible versions during its lifetime: first, Slavic one, then French one, then Hungarian one, and finally the modern English one.
@@basileus-pr6jh If you want to learn the scientific names of every animal & some other scientific terms you'll never use Latin would be incredibly useful. For everything else there's Esperanto. Latin isn't widely spoken enough...wait isn't that the argument people use against learning Esperanto? btw I assume you're joking saying Latin would make more sense.
My main reason for learning Esperanto is that studies have shown that it actually saves you time on learning a second natural language. That's why it should be taught in schools. I wouldn't recommend it to someone who already knows a bunch of languages, but if you struggle with learning a second language, or if you want society to be more multilingual, you should definitely give Esperanto a chance.
Luther Thompson That was the main reason why I learned Esperanto to begin with. I can say it has helped me learn Spanish, Portuguese (vocabulary wise) and with Bisaya (Agglutination). I even listened to Icelandic and realised some things off the start, that made it easier to comprehend. I already say the letter j in Icelandic like a y, since Esperanto does that. The word heim and ne in a dialogue was amusing, since I already had an idea what they meant. I just had to confirm they were not false friends. There is still a lot of work to do, but Esperanto made the steps easier for sure. These are about four languages after Esperanto for me and I intend to continue and improve. I have a Latin program (Power-Glide) that recommends Esperanto as a practice hill to get ready to climb the Latin mountain. Edit: I intend to study a classical language such as Latin, which others have also stated is a worthless dead language.
I've been learning Japanese and it's pretty easy to speak though hard to write so I've started learning Esperanto to take a break but still get my brain going
@@chrisXlr8r Japanese is considered an agglutinating language. When a person can wrap their head around that particular feature, then it is no longer strange. Japanese is also Subject- Object- Verb. Esperanto's free word order, you can practice both the agglutination and word order. When I studied Esperanto, for some reason I did not use the S-V-O order, like in English, but default to O-S-V.
I've met several Esperanto speakers who learned Esperanto because they had failed to learn some other language (even supposedly "easy" ones for someone from their background) and wanted to prove to themselves that the _could_ learn another language (and Esperanto was supposed to be a lot easier). They succeeded -- and even enjoyed it. Many of them went back to learn the language that originally defeated them, and/or went on to learn other languages. (Note: And this was cross-cultural/cross-ethnic -- these people were not necessarily European, and the "hard" language was not necessarily a European one, either. )
The issue is A, esperanto is just cool, weird, nitchy, and easy. That’s why I’m got into it. Put aside all the other stuff. Esperanto is easy enough, and so regular that learning it allows you to learn other languages quickly, it is proven that 2 weeks of Esperanto can not only bring grammatical fluency, but cause you to learn other languages at a higher speed. 2. Although English is becoming this “international language”, it is not a good international language, the grammar is complicated, there are so many irregularities, and takes years to learn. Esperanto on the other hand is easy, because it’s simplicity does not come from limited ness, like Toki pona, but from simply having consistent grammar, and total regularity. Esperanto is so consistent and easy to learn compared to english and is equally, if not more usable and all encompassing at the same time. 3. Esperanto is not intended to be the ONLY language, but a second language, so that groups may have their own languages, while being able to speak with individuals from other groups
Pig Latin is not a language. It’s a language game. It’s like a skin pack for English. It works in most any language which means that it has no grammar, therefore is not a language
Unfortunately, English becomes shit in the mouth of most of its non native speakers... You are wrong, Esperanto, for any non native speaker of English, is better than English. And objectively it is much richer than English.
Curt: I agree. I like Pig Latin and sometimes I use it when teaching phonics (I also use Name Game [you know, that song " ♫ Shirley Shirley Bo Birley Fee Fi Fo Firley, ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬ SHIRLEY!"] to teach phonics) but it's a game or a code, not a language.
Unless you disrupt the word order if pig-latin making it VOS, or SOV, use some other loan words, and voila! You got a new langauge!... Wait, that's ACTUALLY a cool idea...
I learned Esperanto 21 years ago as a second language. For me, it was my introduction to learning languages - I now have mastered Afrikaans, and I've just finished learning Zulu. The main things I dislike about Esperanto are the fanaticism I see online in regards to world peace, and anti-English language sentiments. And not everyone wants to go to a Universal Congress. Zamenhof invented Esperanto in order for the people of the world to get to know each other better - not to talk about Esperanto.
@@venti462 You can learn Zulu on internet classes if you wish. The language uses the Latin alphabet as it didn't have one until it was transcribed. The OP seems to be from or at least visited South Africa and could've learned it from the Zulu people or a a course.
Certainly a good introduction. Cool languages you're learning. Fans of world peace... hmm. Certainly the direction we should always work towards. It's a constant struggle and it likely always will be, to varying extents. Esperanto isn't about anti-English (some fans of the language might be silly, but either way). The goal is not to replace English or any other language. It's just a secondary connecting language for everyone. I agree with anti-(global)English sentiments as far as English being the global language. Because it's very difficult to learn in comparison (MANY places don't learn it, or don't learn much, or have their own form of it), and it has a lot of baggage to contend with, like essentially any language, to varying degrees. etc. Don't have to go to a gathering. There's the internet for global stuff, and travelling, if you just meet up with a group, or the "Pasporta Servo", allowing you to communicate with them, without you needing to know the language of their specific region or whatever (or them needing to be kinda decent at English. Unless you just select for the ones who know likely your native language). But also, you gotta build community around it, and grow it, in order for it to better act as a better bridge between the regions.
Several of these are perfectly good reasons for not being interested in Esperanto. Many of the rest are misinformed (e.g. the nonsense about "dialects" and Ido) or not well thought out ("it lacks a language community" vs. "I'd rather learn a language that's on the verge of extinction" -- and for the record, many Esperantists hope that an easy-to-learn, neutral language might help *preserve* native languages). I'm sorry people have been pressuring you to learn Esperanto; you really don't have to! But it's better to say "I don't feel like it, thanks" than to come up with a long and somewhat dubious list of reasons. And for the love of God, Pig Latin is NOT A CONLANG.
Quite a few of the Esperantists I know, have learned one or more "threatened" indigenous/tribal language. No one says that people should or would want to stop learning other languages. In fact, every world Esperanto conference I've ever heard of offers classes in the local language. Esperanto speakers tend to appreciate language, and to appreciate the connection between language and culture. It's just that they believe people shouldn't have to spend years mastering one or more foreign languages (can take thousands of hours, plus expenses) and then still not be able to converse fluently with that person who speaks a _different_ "lingua franca".
This guy: Esperanto lacks a true speech community Me, an intellectual: Pasporta Servo, Duolingo, Reddit, literally thousands of esperanto organizations that are too numerous to pinpoint where they are all going
@@arcticflower7223 "Not a true community since they only get together because they speak this language" Do you know what a community is? A community is a group of people who get together because they have something in common. In this case, they all speak Esperanto!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and starting an interesting discussion!🤓 Esperanto was gaining popularity and had a substantial chance of becoming an international language before the wars. During the wars and in the post-war Eastern Europe Esperantist were persecuted.😢 That was a severe blow to the language development. Meanwhile English took over, and we've developed translating technology as you mentioned. I don't really know for how long Esperanto is going to last. I definitely met a lot of people involved in the community and happened to hear people using it in random places.😲 You don't have to learn it if you don't feel it but for many people just being a part of the Esperanto community is a good enough reason to learn it. Even if the language doesn't become a lingua franca of the World, its peace- and intercultural exchange-oriented culture keeps attracting many. 🌏🕊
Today I have watched your video again. It's funny , because you express just about the same reasons that I used to have for not learning esperanto before I started learning it, some 15 years ago. Let me add this to my yesterday comment : Esperanto is, by far, the easiest language that you can learn. But , at the same time, it's the MOST interesting thing that, from a strict language point of view, can EVER be learned. A language student shouldn't do without it. I promise I won't add anything else. Best wishes to you.
Yes, you are right. Toki Pona is a constructed language which has only 120 words. It also has very few(but very clever) grammar rules. It is a very interesting game in which its speakers must try to say as many things as possible with such a small amount of words. Another example of how interesting conlangs can be. Compared to them, "natural" languages are so boring...
Learning the 120 basic words and getting started with elementary conversational toki pona is easy. To get C2 level in toki pona is another stuff. ^^ Because of contextuality. Very hard to get your point across.
Learning Esperanto helps you to understand how languages are constructed. Learning french for me was 10x easier after learning Esperanto. if you want to be a polyglot, then learning Esperanto first really really helps with that. If you want to be a master musician you don't start a kid off with a cello, you start them off with a recorder and teach them the basics of music before you hand them a trombone. The same can be said for languages, also, there's still plenty of time for Esperanto to become an international language the community is growing every day! Lernu Esperanton! ^_^
This is the best argument for Esperanto, but is insufficiently used. Esperanto Speaker for 45 years, conversant in Hebrew, Yiddish, Arabic, Spanish and Portuguese. Touches of French and German.
True. There's a ton of examples. For example, I was learning French and lots of words are THE SAME. Acxeti = acheter Viando = Viande And in Spanish... Well, do i have to continue? Libro = Libro Kato = Gato
really? a long time ago i was obsessed with learning french (but couldnt because u know, america sucks about that.) i found out some of my family were from spain so im learning spanish. but im mostly french but the french language intimidates me sooo much. maybe ill try esperanto first to help.
the ido thing was completely wrong. Everyone speaks essentially the same dialect of Esperanto. Hardly anyone speaks Ido and those that do also know esperanto
I love the idea of Esperanto. Let's imagine most young children in the world are taught it along with their native language. Well, they now have a way to communicate with people around the world. They also will have a much easier time in school when it comes time to learn a foreign language. Not everyone speaks English or wants to. It's also nice that Esperanto is not connected to any country so doesn't carry any political baggage. I'm aware that it hasn't caught on much. But I feel like the idea behind it is a good one that we shouldn't be too quick to give up. Especially as we become more and more global. The only problem I have with it is that I do feel it will be harder to learn for people that come from languages that aren't Romance or Germanic based. So, it's not perfect, but it's still a step in the right direction.
Hey, actually there is a large Esperanto speaking community in China, 1 girl from China has a youtube blog I follow. Also - I think many Asian countries perceive English as Colonialist language; British / American wars in India, China, Vietnam, Laos have made a bad reputation for English.
Okay I learned esperanto and I have no problem with you not learning esperanto. My reasons for learning it are because I think it is interesting and fun to speak. Plus the community is really tight nit and crazy excited about speaking with people. I am personally not tied to the ideologies of the language, I learn it because I like it and i plan on learning many languages so this is just step one. I think if it were to be a global lingua franca that would be cool But it is a LONG SHOT.
I am translating your video to Esperanto (and French) to show to people and animate a debate: it's perfect, it gathers all these arguments from people who know nothing about Esperanto and wish to show that they do (plus some surprising things like "dialects" in Esperanto, which I, as a an esperantist have never heard about! There is indeed another language named Ido, that is vastly inspired by Esperanto, but nobody speaks it, although it's not terribly harder - it just lacks the "spirit" of Esperanto)
I agree with Benny Lewis' article *Just 2 weeks learning Esperanto can get you months ahead in your target language* because I came to that conclusion at least a few years before he did. By the time I started learning Esperanto in 2004, I had already studied at least a half dozen languages and even gained fluency in a few of them. I was at an impasse in Russian, so I wanted to put that language on hold and find a new one to start learning, and I just couldn't make up my mind as to which one; I had already studied Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, German, and Russian. In 2004 I went to a local Esperanto meetup and many of the people there had failed, by their own admission, to learn a foreign language, but they found Esperanto and gained fluency in it. There was another person in attendance who spoke Russian, and we chatted in that for a bit. I think most people there were surprised I was able to pick Esperanto up so quickly, but my existing knowledge of French helped in that regard. Of course, I didn't stop at Esperanto. From time to time I've gone back and learned more Russian. Last year I "flirted" with Croatian and Ukrainian. On the Ecolinguist channel I watched a video of Norbert speak his native Polish with a founder of Interslavic speaking that language, and they were able to understand each other. Since learning Esperanto I've learned new techniques for learning languages. I'm not relying solely on copying phrasebooks or textbooks into notebooks with phrases, vocabulary, and grammar tables anymore - unless I don't have other options. One thing I tend to do is come back to languages I've even gained fluency in and learn more, in addition to coming back to the ones that obviously need improvement. English is currently the world's lingua franca, but Spanish is catching up, and French is making a comeback. I'd list Mandarin, but Chinese immigrants tend to learn the local language wherever they find themselves in the world.
"I won't learn esperanto because it is not widely spoken, because other people won't learn esperanto because it's not widely spoken" basically the point of the video lmao
@@nimrod06 If that were really an important factor, we'd never have settled on English as the world's de facto lingua franca. We'd have stuck with French. Or Latin.
@@bernardkung7306 English is NOT the lingua franca. It is spoken by less than 1/5 of the world's population. It is only a regional lingua franca of NA and UK, nothing more than Hindi, Arabic or Mandarin. Stop living in the western bubble and think that what happens here happens everywhere in the world. It's not.
I really wish people stopped making these "Why I'm not learning esperanto" videos. I search for esperanto videos every now and then, and get this kind of "statements" or whatever. In the last year it's become "cool" to post these clips (I've found quite a few), you simply should not learn it and that's it. I don't see many others posting why I'm not learning portuguese, Ido, klingon or interlingua, etc. Apparently one argument is that it would be better to learn near-extinct ones, well that's hardly a valid argument. Nothing's stopping you from learning two different ones. Time, right? IF you really want to, you would make enough time for both. Some people study languages for several hours a day, even when they have a full time job & a family... Excuses, excuses... Plus, that's just the main "reason" (excuse) not to learn it, because actually if you had to choose between learning a near-extinct language and esperanto; it's not like you could learn the endangered one in the SAME time as esperanto. It's not even close, it could take many years and be almost impossible to reach a truly advanced level in a near-extinct language 'cause there aren't many speakers alive nor learning material, so it's all just an unfounded manifesto, looking for attention I guess, sad.
Esperanto works fine as a spoken literary language but not yet as a 'political' movement. It has no country, money or army, but it has a growing diasporate of lively committed speakers across the world. Why not set aside the philosophical battle and find out personally what fun Esperanto really is?
Esperanto funkcias bone kiel parolata skriba lingvo sed ankoraŭ ne kiel politika movado. I havas neniun landon, monon aŭ armeon, sed ĝi havas kreskantan diasporaton de viglaj parolitaj parolantoj tra la mondo. Kial ne flankenmeti la filozofian batalon kaj eltrovi persone kia amuza Esperanto vere estas? What do you make of Google's attempt to translate? Some odd errors, eh?
Esperanto IS NOT any kind of mix. Such statements just push people away from learning it, cause one starts to think that it's just a kinda klingon or elfish joke for nerds, where it's not! Esperanto is unique, solid, live and very expressive communication tool, potentially better than any other! Although most of its vocabulary was taken from Latin and some other languages, it totally differences from all of them and Latin itself. Its grammar structure is so elegant, logic and genius. Even if there weren't other Esperantists and tons of books, it would be worth to learn Esperanto only for its elegance itself.
Esperanto is one of the most interesting languages to learn. It's unique grammar makes it a pleasure. If you have any interests in conlangs this is the one that has more material, speakers, tradition and is probably the most enjoyable.
I LOVE Esperanto! I never had I learned a language so damn fast, including my own native language. It took me a couple of years to speak English. Sed mi rapide parolas Esperanto.
@@arcticflower7223 c'est pas comme si on lui avait donné la chance d'être utile... L'anglais a pris la place pour laquelle il se destinait c'est tout. C'est pas forcément la meilleure des choses, d'ailleur...
@@watersnake1462 I'm not going to read your reply but I acknowledge that there is utility in a) the hypothetical global auxiliary language that would at least have benefits that a natural language doesn't b) interacting with the Esperantujo which certainly has its perks for the right kind of person and c) its propaedeutic capacity.
Monolingual can learn faster a foreign language if they first learn a language like Esperanto. I spoke from experience. My mother tongue is Spanish, I learned Esperanto First and then switched to English. That's help me a lot in the language learning journey.
Far from being a threat to other languages, it truly builds bridges. For someone who loves learning languages as a way of understanding cultures, Esperanto provides the most direct bridge into those other cultures.... eg if a Thai tourist were to travel to Hungary, I cannot see English playing the role of the intermediate language... it is widely spoken, but it presents big challenges for new adult speakers to master. Esperanto, on the other hand, is easy to learn. And in the example I state above, it will be so much more practical for the Thai to converse with the Hungarian in Esperanto... this is not a hypothetical example, more and more people are doing this these days. Of course the absolute numbers are still small, hence its worth encouraging. In Esperanto communities that I am a part of, its fascinating to see the mix of nationalities that come together and discuss their world in a common language directly person-to-person... what could beat that? Se oni deziras lerni unu universala lingvo, Esperanto estas pli facila ol Anglan por atingi či tiun celon.
I just think it´s pragmatic. Esperanto can be learned several times faster than a natural language like English, for example. French people in a study learned Esperanto 10x faster than English and more than 6x faster than Italian. This means that teaching English instead of Esperanto is a giant waste of time and money. Esperanto would be beneficial for education, science, international commerce etc. because the time and money people put into English could go elsewhere. I don´t see how anyone could be against this, wherever they are on the political spectrum. I guess it´s comfy for English native speakers (less than 5% of the world´s population) but that´s about it. Saying that Esperanto is obsolete because the world already speaks English (it´s actually 1-2 billion out of 7,8 billion) is basically a sunken cost fallacy - we gotta waste more time and money because we´ve already invested so much. It´s also like saying that we don´t need cell phones because using your landline is enough It´s also more precise and leaves more room for creativity. My comment is already quite long so I shouldn´t even get started on why that is the case^^
Even though I speak Esperanto fluently (not an easy accomplishment) I think you're totally right! I can't even understand why so many dislikes you got, you didn't say anything wrong ...
Lots of people say that. Everybody with a little knowledge of both languages can tell you that IDO is indeed based on Esperanto. IDO was created by a bunch of language-experts. They removed all slavic influences from Esperanto and replaced them with "more international" (=germanic/romanic) elements. Ido and Esperanto are at least as mutually intelligible as Dutch and Afrikaans
Gabriel Zanetti yeah except the difference between a language and a dialect is still something linguist themselves aren't even clear on; more often than not linguists decide if it's a dialect based on its mutual intelligibility and considering that ido and Esperanto are mutually intelligible it's not a stretch to say that they're dialects
Nothing against you personally, you seem like a great person, and every polyglot I've met are very respectful towards others because of there ability to speak other languages and speak with people from different backgrounds. But that dislike to like ratio really makes me happy.
Esperanto is intended for humans to be able to communicate regardless if you were born on two opposite sides of the earth. It wasn't meant to replace anything, but to add on and build a bridge between human connection.
Reason #1 : wrong. Esperanto is spoken at least on 6 continents and 120 countries. This only, makes it international. You're mixing the notions of "International language" and "World language". Reason #2 : wrong. That community has even a name in esperanto : "la movado" - the movement. And it's bountiful. Reason #3 : wrong. Esperanto is meant to be a secundary language. Not a primary one. Besides, most of esperantist people are polyglots, and Esperanto helps them learn new languages, by means of understanding grammar and curiosity for other cultures.. Speaking of your basement, go outside, have a little bit of sun and fresh air, and find for yourself why you are so wrong. You'r free to learn esperanto or not, but give up bullshit trying to explain why you won't. Friendly yours, (Even if you got a thumb down from me for all crap you said in this video)
But in practice it is barely a local language since every native speaker will speak the language of their locale. Still an artificial community. At no point did he imply that he thought that Esperanto would replace any language. Only that it wouldn't help the dying ones. Pretty valid reasons I thought and I don't 100% agree with all of it.
1) still fewer speakers than Swazi so the point still stands. 2) I thought it was "Esperantujo"? Either way, see number 1. 3)Any language helps one to learn languages and I'd rather learn useful ones. Why must it be universal? Why can't the global language be someone's first language? That's sinister. Seems someone can't take a challenge....
I speak esperanto fluently. I participated in many esperanto meetings include the most important of these which is the Universal congress of Esperanto. For me learn esperanto was very important to me. The learning of esperanto takes me understand any language better. My efficiency about learn grammar and vocabulary of any language increased a lot after I had learned this language. About others reasons I agree with you. The community of esperanto is small, Only in internacional meetings of espeanto speakers I can speak esperanto all the day. Even in the internet the community is not so vivid.
@@zanziboi because you can get literate level 10x times faster than any other language. If you don't have much time to study languages you will not be motivated to fully learn an language.. but with esperanto chances are higher that you will master it even with low time.
My intent is to move to Japan, work, and have a family. Japanese is very different from English, and I've heard many people say that Esperanto helped them understand language more, and I want to speak at least 3 languages by the time im 35 and im a teenager. So I think I will learn Esperanto
Creo que soy inteligente y no pierdo mi tiempo estudiando a fondo tantos idiomas para comunicarme con las personas de distintos países(es cierto que estudio algunos superficialmente por mera distracción y curiosidad), motivo por el cual aprendí y sigo mejorando mi Esperanto ya que es un idioma internacional y neutro(definitivamente mi segunda lengua) y no pretende "imponerse". Es Esperanto es más fácil que mi idioma nativo, puedo comunicarme y entender con cierta facilidad después de 6 meses de estudio constante (30 minutos al día), estoy feliz, además veo que el Esperanto crece día a día(lento pero seguro), consideremos que el Esperanto solo tiene una edad de aproximadamente 130 años y otros como el inglés cerca de 800 años, aunque el chino mandarín es el más hablado en el mundo y el gobierno chino está dando su apoyo al Esperanto, eso es un buen síntoma porque China luego se convertirá en potencia mundial sobre Estados Unidos y no pretende imponer su idioma(que es terriblemente difícil de aprender incluso para los propios chinos). Muchos detractores dicen "el fracaso del Esperanto", pero están lejos de la realidad, el Esperanto avanza, no retrocede. Estoy conociendo personas muy agradables de todo el mundo gracias a este "colang". Por todo esto debieras: ESTUDIAR ESPERANTO!. Saludos desde Chile!
El idioma que te ayudaría a comunicarte con el mayor número de personas alrededor del mundo es el inglés. Por cierto, el Esperanto en realidad no es neutro, es un idioma europeo básicamente.
O único erro foi falar que aprender outras línguas é perda de tempo, principalmente hoje em dia, que o esperanto ainda não é uma língua com tantos falantes assim. Se você quiser viajar para a França, por exemplo, você não pode chegar lá achando que todo mundo vai falar esperanto
A quite persuasive argument in favor of learning Esperanto, which is a complete language with 130 years of use behind it, not a made-up language that popped up yesterday. Most of the words in Esperanto were not created by Zamenhof but by his successors: Esperanto is subject to the rules of language change just like any other language. And languages are not "natural": they are made by human beings. Nor was Esperanto intended to replace other languages: most speakers of Esperanto have an intense interest in preserving linguistic diversity and reviving endangered languages.
He is indeed wrong on certain points, but because the video is not really insulting, I won't click on the thumb-down. There is a speech community, and there is a giant Esperanto discussion group on Facebook. It is not true that Ido would be a dialect of Esperanto, if that would be true, Afrikaans is a dialect of Dutch. Ido and Afrikaans are not dialects of Esperanto and Dutch respectively. Esperanto has evolved from the stage that it was a conlang in the way other conlangs were. As far as I know, Esperanto is the only language that did not die when its author died. Other conlangs died together with the author. I no longer see Esperanto as a conlang, but I will say it so, when others ask what Esperanto is, or say: "Never heard of it."
I am not free of criticism mainly against the Esperanto community. I have to say that there are people, eternaj komencantoj, the most of the time that endlessly come up with reforms without really learning the language. Because Zamenhof has thought many things through, there is everything there what Esperanto needs. There is no needs for reforms. Instead of trying to change Esperanto, learn the language. You will notice that it does not need any reforms at all.
I decided to try to learn Esperanto because I heard it would be easy to learn. But the main reason was cuz why not? I can kinda understand it now. I think I could probably get by with my current knowledge if I went somewhere that speaks Esperanto.
Esperanto seems to me more like an intellectual culture mostly popular among the people in the older generations. What I like about it is that I really feel liberated from the pressure to speak or write perfectly as the Esperantists are mostly non-natives and very tolerant with beginners and mistakes. I do not think it will ever become popular enough to be a widely spoken international language but it is actually very interesting in many aspects. Definitely give it a try yourself to see, especially if you have some background in European languages and language learning. Mi studis Esperanto nur unu tago kaj mi jam povas fari mallongajn esperantajn frazojn sen uzi vertaron. Tio diras ke vere estas facila lingvo. Mi esperis vedi pli da vertoj ke venas el la asiajn lingvojn sed mi ne vidis nenion.
6 лет назад+16
Zamenhof began working on his Esperanto more or less at the same time when Eliezer Benyehuda started to use Hebrew as a living language, and the curious fact is that Zamenhof thought the idea of reanimating Hebrew was stillborn. It turned out that Zamenhof was wrong. Hebrew is the official language of Israel! Could people have done the same thing with Latin? They are trying....
@@universenerdd Korekte! Dum la lastaj - ni diru proksimume - mil jaroj neniuj lernis la latinan linvon denaske sed ili komencis je tre frua aĝo! Plimalpli kiel ni nuntempe eklernas la normalan lingvon de niaj landoj kaj ne nur la dia/sociolekto per kiu ni komunikadas kun parencoj kaj plej proksima ĉirkaŭaĵo. Lernado de la latina lingvo tamen signifas ke oni konatiĝas kun komunikilo kiu estas uzata jam dum miloj da jaroj. Mi rekomendas ĝin.
I'm learning Esperanto so I can pass it onto my children and turn it into their first language before english so if they choose to learn other languages it'll be much easier to learn them
As a first language Esperanto is probably the worst one, growing up bi- or multilingual with one or more native languages (English/Finnish/German/French/Vietnamese etc) plus Esperanto would be more ideal. Only speaking Esperanto would be bad for future language learning because it's so simple with more or less no irregularities and in general simple grammar, so everything you learn after would be harder. It's an ideal language to learn as an adult because it teaches you about grammar and to analyse the language you're learning in a more efficient way than any other languages I've learnt, but as an only language it's not ideal. Esperanto speaking kids take a longer time to learn the irregularities in other languages they speak than other kids their age who don't speak Esperanto and learning verb conjugations would be way harder than for someone who speaks a language that has verb conjugation (I wish Swedish had kept the verb conjugations because I found learning other languages so hard because verb conjugations don't exist in modern Swedish). Since everything you learn as a baby/kid is "free" more or less, I'd personally want my kids to learn the hardest languages possible from childhood so they don't have to put too much concious effort into it later. English or Esperanto are languages that my kids could easily learn when they are older so I wouldn't prioritise them when they could learn German and Finnish in addition to my native language.
@@arcticflower7223 Look kid. French is only useful in canada or Europe. There isn’t a significant French speaking minority. “It’s more challenging” the point is to get a language that makes it easier to learn other languages. Not call water eaux for some dumb reason. Akvo
"It may be hard to find Esperanto speakers, let alone those who speak the same dialect as I do" (considering Ido a dialect) Oh you mean the 99% that speak normal esperanto?
I like esperanto, its idea is to be a language without culture or countries attached to it. Avoiding this way to give an unfair advantage to the countries and people whose language is a lingua franca. Also, it is incredibly regular and easy to learn. Sadly, as you said, it hasn't achieved its goal, It is not as widely spoken as it should. We, the current speakers are trying to rise it, and the people who learn it know that even though it is not popular, they help the cause to eventually achieve the goal of a non-national universal language.
Its true : /. But esperanto is not hard, it can be taught in 1-2 trimesters in high school. Which makes it ideal to replace inglish as lingua franca. It's not about its culture, but about which is more handy.
I think the idea of a neutral constructed global language makes sense in a utopian way, but the idea of avoiding an unfair advantage doesn't hold water for me since the alternative is just to make it harder for more people without making it that much easier for anyone.
@Latam 'Nan I want to be able to think in a language that has no cultures or nations behind it whatsoever, and that's because I want complete control of my thought process without the influence of the culture that's behind the language that I'm using.
Why u won't learn Esperanto - bcz English , French, German, Spanish , Portuguese, Russian ... according to scientists , a language dies every 14 days ( 7:27) -bcz English , French, German, Spanish , Portuguese, Russian ... Esperanto is a best way to defend ''little'' languages .
Politely disagreeing, I think it could help save languages in a certain respect. Part of the reason I think most people give up on trying to learn other languages is because managing 2 complicated grammar structures gets to be too much, so they end up just choosing one. If the lingua franca that you're learning is very simple then it encourages you to use it alongside your current native language
Many polyglots are not learning Esperanto eventhough it could take only a few days effort for a trilingual person (who speaks English or a Latin language well) to become conversant in Esperanto. Duolingo-polyglots generally will not learn and USE Esperanto. Even among the one and a half million Duolingo learners of Esperanto, half in the USA, far below ONE percent are using Esperanto (i.a.at a FB group) or are coming to meetings, especially in the United States (There are several reasons why USA Americans don't learn languages i.a. little vacation time (which allow travel and face to face language learning), great debt after college and belief in their own superiority among other reasons). I have advocated for Esperanto for 45 years and there is a sudden illusion that Duolingo learners will knock down the doors of Esperanto clubs. I suggest we go elsewhere to find new Esperanto speakers. I do recommend you learn Esperanto if you want close friends, get invited to people's homes in one hundred countries (Pasporta Servo). Michael, you are totally wrong about not being able to find Esperanto speakers. Only if you are part of the 1% most extrovert/friendly people who speak English will English prove easier to meet people than those using Esperanto. I like many of your thoughts but you are wrong on Esperanto. Esperantists also support small minority languages and you will need much more exploration about the Esperanto community to make the proper conclusion (Strong Esperanto movements have long existed in Hungary, Lithuania and Catalunia) . But let's be realistic: Half of the languages I've read about have less than 20.000 speakers and quite nearly extinct. Sadly some languages with a million speakers are at risk. I hope a few hundred of largest languages will survive. (UN statistic: The last speaker of a language is dying at a rate of 1 language every two weeks.) There are over 6.000 documented languages. Another mistake you make: 90% of polyglots make: Most USA Americans born here will not even be modestly bilingual, a great loss for this country. Good luck in preserving another dying language, seriously.
"Only if you are part of the 1% most extrovert/friendly people who speak English will English prove easier to meet people than those using Esperanto." 1 in 8 people in the world speak English at a good level. 1 in about 80,000 speak Esperanto at a good level. Do not talk nonsense.
In my view the main purposes of learning Esperanto are as a bridge language and as a motivator to learn other languages. It can serve as a bridge language by making you more familiar with the linguistic features of the language groups it is based on so that when you go on to study those languages it's less of a steep learning curve. But it serves especially well as a motivator (at least for monolingual people who aspire to learn new languages). In a relatvely short time you can demonstrate to yourself that you are capable of learning another language fluently. It ceases to be something you know you could do theoretically and becomes something you know that you can do through experience. That can then give you the extra motivation and drive to learn natural languages, which are a bit more complicated and take much more time to learn.
2:30 that's exactly one thing that Esperanto (as well as many other languages) prevent, you can read a word you have NEVER seen before and know exactly how to pronunce it. This maybe isn't a problem for you, as you already know how to speak and pronunce English (don't know if it's your primary language), but it's a biig problem fot those looking forward to learn it and becomes a big discourage to those who doen't get very well with learning new languages
These are pretty valid points. On your last point, I am an Esperantist, but I am also learning the native American language of my ancestors. Also, mmmmmost Esperantists are not Finavenkistoj. (People who subscribe to Zamenhof's ideology of having a universal language) There's lots of different reasons why people learn Esperanto. For the Pasporta Servo (you should look that up) or like me, out of pure curiosity. It's actually not that hard to find Esperantists in the real world. I totally respect you though, I'm not trying to attack you. Take care! God bless!
Just to make it clear there, it's intended to try and be the universal connecting language, but it's not intended to replace any native languages. It's a secondary language for everyone.
My nativ language is slavic. I learned english in school for 10 years. Is it worth learning any other language then English? I learned French for two years. I learned Italian for four years. I have traveled nether to France nor to Italy. I visited Hungary, Germany, Russia, Romania and Holland. I listened a lot to french and italian musik. I had the opportunity to talk to some italians (3-4 times) about 1 hour in total. I am not capable to watch films or news nor to read literature in original. I have been learning Esperanto for two years. After three months of study I started reading my first novel (using dictionary a lot at the beginning) . I have red few books, I can understand videos, news and radio podcasts. Few times a month I participate in chat meetings on the Internet on various topics. I'm not fluent yet. In my case, the ratio of benefits to the effort invested in learning is convincigly in favor of Esperanto.
Dankon pro via rakonto! Ankaŭ por mi la avantaĝoj de Esperanto multe superas la elspezojn de ĝia lernado. / Thank you for your story! For me too, the benefits of Esperanto far outweigh the costs of learning it.
im learning esperanto, and i absolutely adore it! my personal belief is that, no matter the reason for not learning a language, whether it be pig latin, german, or esperanto, is a valid reason no matter what. it may not be valid to you, but it is valid for the person not wanting to learn it. no one is gonna force you to speak french, so why should they force you to learn esperanto. adiaŭ, kaj bonan tagon!
We need a second language to communicate with the rest of the world. So why not make it as easy as possible? Take a few Esperanto lessons on Duolingo. It will take you a few minutes and you'll know what I'm saying.
One of the things that has been the greatest surprise to me is the extent to which Esperanto DOES has a very vibrant, well-connected speech community, especially amidst the pandemic. I've found it easier to engage with other eager Esperantists over the last year or two than any of the many other languages I study.
So many times I’ve been thinking of the need, the application of Esperanto. simply, You learn Because its fun! The universal idea speaks to me. What you like , you will perform well . And what you can perform well will be appreciated. When you like something you smile , and the smile is a state of one being in harmony with oneself. One intelligent choice. There are lots of smiles on the Esperanto RUclipsrs. I appreciate them being in that state , liking what they do. Would be interesting to see where Esperanto is 30 years from now. Esperanto has Never been growing this fast!
I hope no other polyglot thinks like you, because I would love to see a polyglot learning ithkuil III (or ithkuil iv)
6 лет назад+3
Well, I don't know if I'm right, but I speak Esperanto and I'm going to attend the Esperanto World Congress/2018, in Lisbon. There are already nearly 1500 subscribers to this congress, from 75 countries. By the way, I also took part in the Word Congress/2014, in Buenos Aires. It was a good experience.
I learned Esperanto. It was fast. I love it. I just wanna thank you, because saying that, you attracted a loooot of esperantists to this place to show exactly the opposite what you said. No offense. ________________________ Sukceson! Tion mi kordeziras al cxiuj.
It’s an auxiliary language. There is no intention for it to replace the usage of another language but instead allow people to communicate who would normally not speak the same language - a back up language so to speak.
I found your channel because of your Afrikaans and Dutch video (I’m Dutch myself) I still watch your videos because I think they are really interesting. Just wanted to say that. Keep it up!
I think esperanto should be a bridge language to help people learn foreign languages, because of its structure esperanto can make the meaning behind certain translations more clear than if you only learn through your native language, especially if your native tongue is English like me. Although there are certain aspects of esperanto that should be adjusted to make the language less confusing, like a custom script more similar to Korean or some other language that has less complicated letters that can be easily mistaken for one another for people with dyslexia.
I won't waste time pointing out all of the ways this so called linguist fails to get the point of Esperanto, as others have done so already. If you don't like the language or think there would be one better suited to being international, then make those arguments, but stop saying "Esperanto has failed", it makes you look really stupid. There was never a time limit put on Esperanto, saying it has failed to achieve it's goal is like calling a marathon runner a failure, 8 seconds after they start running. The world is a big place and Esperanto Is Still spreading. Daily.
I think it's very interesting. I see a lot of counter-arguments on his video above. However, I can list a few reasons that I likely won't learn Esperanto. 1. I actually didn't know that this language existed. In fact, I was researching about language vs. dialect then I came across this word on Wikipedia. Then I realized that this was actually a thing and was amazed that there are actually Esperanto speakers. However, it's fair to see that this language, compared to all the other major languages in the world is not very well known. Most of my family and friends did not know about this language and were equally amazed when they learned that this is a thing. 2. Lack of materials for me to learn. You always see advertisements, exams, instructors that teach you English, French, Spanish, Chinese...etc, however, I've never seen any school or any 3rd party providers teaching this language (at least not in where I live). I've actually been doing a lot of research and has grown in interests in this language. However, I don't know where to start if I were to learn it. Where would I ever use it? I heard that many speakers self-teach themselves and there are clubs/conventions with Esperanto speakers. But I really don't know why I would do that. There are also many interesting languages out there (which I think is what he's trying to say in the video), what's the incentive for me to go out there to learn Esperanto? This leads me to my next point. 3. Lack of association to daily life/culture/identity: I understand that this language was created as "supplement" to the primary languages that you speak. It's meant to be an international and common language that can breakdown language barriers. The fact that I've never heard of it until today (maybe I'm just ignorant) is kind of proof that it's very uncommon in my country. There are many incentives for everyone before learning a new language (we all lead a busy life and it's fair to say that it's impossible to learn every language in the world), so you'd have to pick and choose the languages that you want to learn next. Out of many great and interesting languages in the world, such as Arabic, Spanish, English, Russian...etc? One may learn Chinese Mandarin when they travel to China, or learn Portuguese because they want to visit Brazil. I learned Spanish because I liked their music and for business purposes. My friend took German since he was interested in the history and culture of Germany and the world wars. The only reason that I can think of for learning Esperanto is - pure interests. There are no books I can read that purely written in Esperanto but not in other languages, there are no major countries that I can visit that only speaks and writes Esperanto, there is no one that I can practice Esperanto with, and it's fair to say that in my country, I likely won't be able to use the language at all unless I personally seek out the people that speak it. I understand that the intention is good, but I take pride in the languages I speak and write. Just like how many comments here proudly defend Esperanto and why it's a great language (and I believe so too). In a way, a language (and its accent) also represents where you come from, your country's culture, and your background. Esperanto is meant to be an international language, but it's precisely its lack of roots that I don't find it as appealing. Yes it's cool that it's "international", but I don't seem to find a story behind it as it's still relatively new and artificially constructed. You can argue that all languages are likely artificially constructed, but they evolved over thousand of years to be the way it is today and I find it very cool that I can trace the stories and meaning behind a certain word's origin (such as Chinese characters). Being able to speak Spanish and understand the music that I love, and brag to my family and friends bring immense pride to me and social recognition. I don't really see that happening with Esperanto. I'm sure Esperanto is easy to learn (within 150 hours sounds amazing), but the thing is, you won't know how easy it is until you try it. In reality, when you travel and you encounter something that you cannot explain in your language, the second language that you switch to is likely English (as supplement), not Esperanto. So I understand what the video is trying to say, perhaps he didn't word it well, but I agree with his point of view.
i care more about speaking and promoting the most simple language, rather than preserve something that might have been too complicated for its own good
TBH a portion of the Esperanto community is definitely toxic. They're the kind of people that will blindly dislike a video like this no matter how well presented you were in defining your reasons. They are the kind of people who want Esperanto to still succeed today, and are overpassionate about it. I've learned Esperanto as a fun way to start getting into learning languages, similar to how you would learn to play the recorder in primary/elementary school to learn the basics of music. It's been fun getting to feel what it could be like to get really good at a language. I won't get into the controversy over whether or not Esperanto has a "culture" of its own. A lot of the community is well-hearted, and I love it when I get to interact with these people, but there are some people who just get butthurt over things like this video. Ne maltrakviliĝu pri ilin. Ili ne komprenas, kion vi diras. Feliĉan usonan tagon de la sendependiĝo!
If you're a polyglot, you don't have to learn Esperanto, you pick it up by glancing at an Esperanto text and maybe quickly referring to a mere 'sixteen rules'.
I like this video because even though you misunderstood the intention of Esperanto (it's not meant to replace already existing languages, I used to think this as well), you were really respectful and at the end you said that you're even excited for people learning Esperanto. That is nice to hear after looking at some criticisms that were quite rude. I'm fine with people not being interested in learning Esperanto. Learn it because you want to, not because you feel like you should.
I wouldn't say that your decisions to not learn Esperanto is controversial, but the idea of Esperanto in general is polarizing with two very outspoken sides to it. There is actually a very loud and obnoxious group of people who HATE Esperanto. I have studied in the past and don't REALLY care for it, but I find it mildly interesting and entertaining. In the end I'm pretty apathetic about it though. But goddamn, some people HATE it.
EO: Neniu volas lerni Esperanton ĉar neniu parolas ĝin. Neniu parolas ĝin ĉar neniu volas lerni ĝin. EN: No one wants to learn Esperanto because nobody speaks it. Nobody speaks it because nobody wants to learn it. IT: Nessuno vuole imparare l'Esperanto perché nessuno lo parla. Nessuno ne parla perché nessuno vuole impararlo. ES: Nadie quiere aprender Esperanto porque nadie lo habla. Nadie lo habla porque nadie lo quiere aprender. manga de forros mi devas diri ĝin en kvar lingvoj por ke ĝi komprenu
The reason Esperanto "failed" was because it was persecuted during World War Two. Both Hitler and Stalin were afraid of it and esperantists ended up in concentration camps and gulags because of their involvement with Esperanto and related communities. Before the persecution, Esperanto was widely used in European commerce, transportation, and more. Afterwards, it was difficult to find esperantists until the groundswell re-emergence, beginning in the 1970s. For more on this history, read "Dangerous Language" by Ulrich Lins
Male, ĉi tion mi denove deklaras: ju pli oni diras, ke esperanton si ne ŝatas, aŭ volas lerni des pli la tutmonda intereso pri la lingvo kreskiĝas. Jes, mi ne ŝercas. Ĉi tiuj opinioj estas kiujn esperanto bezonas. Estas la atento kiun la esperanta movado ege bezonas. Mi nek disputas pri la avantaĝo de esperanto nek ĝin promocias. La nura fakto, ke tempon oni traktas por siajn opiniojn diri, sufiĉas por mi.
Im a Afrikaner, and ive studied Esperanto, i no longer use it for the intend of becoming a international language, i now just speak it cuz i have become inlove with the community
I learnt basic conversational Esperanto in a few weeks, and found I could read it better than write it or speak it, I even went on a weekend course to immerse myself further... to be honest, the weekend course was the reason I gave it up and haven’t dipped my toe into Esperanto for the last five years. Here are my opinions in Esperanto. 1. The idea of Esperanto being a universal second language for all, that we learn from birth alongside our national language is a fantastic idea...no language barriers anywhere in the world, no need for expensive translation software or translators in international business and diplomacy...business leaders and politicians can speak to each other directly so there is no need for interpreters or reasons for important facts to get lost in translation. This is a no brainer. 2. The idea that Esperanto will bring about world peace is I’m afraid total bullshit. You could have talked Esperanto to people like Hitler, Stalin, Caesar or Napoleon all you wanted...it would never have stopped them doing what they did. 3. Do I think Esperanto has developed its own culture? Yes I do...Do I think Esperanto SHOULD have its own culture,? Not really. I’m not about to disenfranchise those who embrace it in this way, but as a language there is no need for it to have a flag....or an anthem that people stand and sing with their hand on their heart. It’s a language and should be used as a language only. There is no need to politicise it in this way...and what political identity it has assumed is very VERY left wing....almost verging on communistic. I know Stalin (the commies commie) outlawed and persecuted Esperantists but none the less I found the majority of people I met and conversed with during my Esperanto experiment were of this left wing persuasion ...and it was this reason more than any other I chose to reject it...if it can be reestablished purely as a language only , the flag and ‘la Espera’ disposed of and a concerted effort is made by all schools and in all countries to teach it, then ‘lol happily come back on board.
You are right that many Esperanto speakers have left wing view, and many are also vegetarians or vegans. But I know many Esperanto speakers who are not left wing. It is a very diverse community, which includes all kinds of people. That is its richness.
I didn't get offended by your video I just wanted to add that I am learning esperanto because I notice that it had some similarities to other languages and my husband is learning French and yes we notice that some words sound the same so I decided to continue with esperanto I think that that way it would be way easier for me to learn other languages
And you are right. Esperanto was created for easy communication. It has no armies, no money, no oil, it didn't kill millions of people - so people underestimate it, but it is the most powerful language of this planet, the future of international language.
I liked the way you ended this video "I'm just a guy in a basement..." it makes the whole thing more light hearted and humble, whether or not you agree with the content of the video. This was interesting to watch, but I think I'll still learn Esperanto :-)
I have also heard and read that if you are learning your first new language that Esperanto is a great way to go. Since it is easy to learn it is rewarding in that you can progress quickly. You are also training your brain how to learn a new language and with esperanto you have vocab and some grammar structures from other languages giving the new learner a familiarity with multiple European languages. But, if you are already multilingual, Esperanto is just for interest or fun. New meat should take a few months to learn it and then move on to their real target language. Their brain will be more prepared to learn which will increase their overall learning rate.
7:00 it wasn't , esperanto was intended to be a TOOL between diferent folks and nations , in that case we shall not learn english , oh wait shall we? besides which english dialect ? and why not spanish or mandarin or arabic ?
You're missing the point of Esperanto, Esperanto wasn't meant to replace our languages, it was meant to supplement them. It was to be a universal second language. The idea was that we're never going to get everyone to speak the same language, therefore the need to learn a second language is inevitable. Therefore, why not make it as easy as possible to fulfill that need. Esperanto was the way to do just that.
I've been doing some research and it was meant to be everyone's second language, right? You would speak your native language + Esperanto
@@zipop7880: I speak Esperanto for more than 30 years. I is much easier than any other natural language - 6 months and you can communicate at higher level than after 6 years of learning English. It was never meant to replace your mother tongue, it was always meant to be auxiliary.
Except that is what english is. English was made into a super easy language and it is being learned all over the world. You would notice this if you learn other languages.
English only seems to be easy - mainly because of global influence of anglophone cultures. It looks easy and familiar, because everyday everyone is bombarded by English (recently mainly American version) music, movies, technology, tv, literature, press, etc. Why? Because big part of the world is or was a British colony or American protectorate. Before it was the same with French, and before it was the same with Latin in the middle ages, and before it was the same with Greek in the ancient times, etc. It has nothing to do with actual easiness of the language itself. French or Latin are not easy languages to learn. If not, why they were so commonly used in the past? Because the world's common language is usually the language of the recently dominating empire, no matter if the language is easy to learn or not.
@@George-iv1hi vi pravas - mi respondis al homoj dirantaj ke la anglan estas facila. Fakte gxi ne estas facila, gxi nur sxajnas tia.
I think he intended it to be a bridge language, not to replace native common languages in day-to-day life
Yes that is what L.L Zamenhof meant with the language
I'm almost sure that I read somewhere that that's what he actually wanted
He never implied otherwise.
Bridge, indeed? Quite a metaphor.
He basically wanted a language to be used in world politics and business etc. But English ended up filling that roll. U SA economic power post ww2 made its language take the spot
I respectfully disagree with you
Are you canadian?!
I think he actually wants to understand foreign people or not rely on them to learn his language or something.
"I won't learn Esperanto because people like me exist, who won't learn it"
-this dude
"I won't eat those grapes, because no one does. So they must be sour."
-the fox
lol that's not true, he has brought some valid reasons why he doesn't want to learn the language, whether you agree with it or not is up to you, these were his personal reasons, he didn't badmouth the language only for him it doesn't seem to make sense to learn it
That ignores so much in an arrogant way.
@@tepan That's not the moral of that story.
It takes time and energy to learn a language and if it isn't so capable for it's intended purposes then there's no point learning it, sounds perfectly reasonable to me.
It's a shame that the video chose to be sensational instead of accurate and made many mistakes.
- Esperanto is an international language, it's not the largest one, but it is still one.
- There is a "true" speech community
- There are no dialects of Esperanto so there is no fear that you might meet people who don't speak your dialect. Ido is a splinter language not a dialect.
- Esperanto doesn't endanger any language, languages on the verge of extinction are under threat mainly from major languages like English.
Ryder Taiwan I do find it ironic how criticism of Esperanto like against a global language to endanger other languages, but support English as a globlal language which historically has suppressed and does endanger other languages. It is happening in the Philippines, how English words are being used more in other languages, like Bisaya. Esperanto does not replace any other language, as many polyglots learn Esperanto and continue to learn more languages afterwards.
If a person has no interest in learning Esperanto, then they shouldn't. If they do then do it. I am in agreement, that Esperanto is mostly irrelevant, but that should not matter to someone who enjoys it nonetheless.
True English is endangering my native language as well
@@don_p7546 I can also confirm for my language
Aurora Reali I feel you mate. I do hope mine won’t get replaced like Irish, welsh and Scottish.
@@don_p7546 What language is your native language? I am in Ireland and will eventually learn Irish to fluency, so we’re still fighting to keep our native tongue here, albeit with great difficulty.
Esperanto is super fun to learn, I have a lot of friends and it got me interested into languages. The video is sadly out of subject. Instead of treating a language as a language, he treats it as a political thing. It is like saying I won't learn English because people learn English only for money. It is misrepresentation.
jes mia amiko
Mi estas nur komencanto, sed mi plene konsentas.
Crosis of Borg
That’s facts
exactly, he made a language a political thing
Languages ARE political and this one especially. I'm learning Esperanto too. It is fun though pretty ugly.
Reason #1: It's not yet the international language, but surely is a better option than english for that purpose.
Reason #2: T'here's an active Esperanto speaking community and not only on the internet, in fact, in almost every city there's an esperanto club and, btw, if you learn Esperanto you'll notice quickly that in Esperanto, the speech pattern or the accent is very free, and not really important, so it's easier :)
Reason #3: do you know that all human languages are created artificially? There's no such thing as a "natural language", all languages have been created at least by a prehistoric group of people, yes, including English. And learning Esperanto is not uncompatible with learning another foreign language, Esperanto is very easy and fast to learn and, if you learn it, you'll be able to learn other languages easier and faster (including minorised ones), it improves one's language-learning capacities, even more than any other language.
This is why I learn Esperanto :)
Yeah, people have assumptions about Esperanto and totally ignore the community that speaks it. With already several generations of speakers and culture.
yes but the community of esperanto IS extremely little if you compare it to franch/spanish/english communities, i dont hate esperanto, but i prefer to learn english, is not hard and ther's a lot of ressources to learning/practice it
Kvazaux esperantiso, mi povas diri, ke esperantistoj estas tre strangxaj, ankaux multaj esperantistoj kaj esperanto-cluboj pli zorgas aktivismon pri esperanto, ol paroli la lingvon. Do jes, ekzistas komunumo, sed ne bona komunumo
M B ne ekzistas esperanto-kulturo! Vi miskomprenas la signofo de kulturo, esperanto nur estas lingvo. Gxi estas sub-kulturo maksimume
Latam Nan Esperanto won't beat English. That is not in dispute. Can you site sources that English is already the biggest language in the world?
You are implying it has the most speakers worldwide. I looked it up and English is #3 behind #1 Mandarin Chinese and #2 Spanish.
Pig Latin is a cipher, not a conlang. A cipher depends on an existing language and does not have its own grammar.
@Truto the fundamentals yeah
@Truto ܫܠܡܐ ܠܟ
Esperanto also is a cypher, based on an existing language and having no grammar. Esperanto cannot exist without real living languages to take the grammar from.
Esperanto had several incompatible versions during its lifetime: first, Slavic one, then French one, then Hungarian one, and finally the modern English one.
@@IkarusKommt You don't know what cipher means, then.
@@jesusacuna309 If you replace "the" with "la", and "apple" with "pomo", you are just encrypting, not translating.
On that same note,
we don't need to use the metric system because it is an "artificially" created system of units and measurements.
fliteshare: Amen to that!
¡ vera !
Currently -16° rankine here
You list credibility the moment you called Pig Latin a "Language".
Anyone choosing Esperanto over Latin is an uncultured savage. Esperanto is a joke.
basileus3494 latin is too hard gooood luck with that grammar
@@basileus-pr6jh as a gateway to natural romance languages, it is pretty good
@@basileus-pr6jh If you want to learn the scientific names of every animal & some other scientific terms you'll never use Latin would be incredibly useful. For everything else there's Esperanto. Latin isn't widely spoken enough...wait isn't that the argument people use against learning Esperanto? btw I assume you're joking saying Latin would make more sense.
@DSsalad I was on the fence about starting to learn it but your comment pushed me over the edge. Dankon pro la instigo.
My main reason for learning Esperanto is that studies have shown that it actually saves you time on learning a second natural language. That's why it should be taught in schools. I wouldn't recommend it to someone who already knows a bunch of languages, but if you struggle with learning a second language, or if you want society to be more multilingual, you should definitely give Esperanto a chance.
Reference: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaedeutic_value_of_Esperanto
Luther Thompson That was the main reason why I learned Esperanto to begin with. I can say it has helped me learn Spanish, Portuguese (vocabulary wise) and with Bisaya (Agglutination). I even listened to Icelandic and realised some things off the start, that made it easier to comprehend. I already say the letter j in Icelandic like a y, since Esperanto does that. The word heim and ne in a dialogue was amusing, since I already had an idea what they meant. I just had to confirm they were not false friends. There is still a lot of work to do, but Esperanto made the steps easier for sure. These are about four languages after Esperanto for me and I intend to continue and improve. I have a Latin program (Power-Glide) that recommends Esperanto as a practice hill to get ready to climb the Latin mountain.
Edit: I intend to study a classical language such as Latin, which others have also stated is a worthless dead language.
I've been learning Japanese and it's pretty easy to speak though hard to write so I've started learning Esperanto to take a break but still get my brain going
@@chrisXlr8r Japanese is considered an agglutinating language. When a person can wrap their head around that particular feature, then it is no longer strange.
Japanese is also Subject- Object- Verb.
Esperanto's free word order, you can practice both the agglutination and word order.
When I studied Esperanto, for some reason I did not use the S-V-O order, like in English, but default to O-S-V.
I've met several Esperanto speakers who learned Esperanto because they had failed to learn some other language (even supposedly "easy" ones for someone from their background) and wanted to prove to themselves that the _could_ learn another language (and Esperanto was supposed to be a lot easier).
They succeeded -- and even enjoyed it. Many of them went back to learn the language that originally defeated them, and/or went on to learn other languages.
(Note: And this was cross-cultural/cross-ethnic -- these people were not necessarily European, and the "hard" language was not necessarily a European one, either. )
The issue is A, esperanto is just cool, weird, nitchy, and easy. That’s why I’m got into it. Put aside all the other stuff. Esperanto is easy enough, and so regular that learning it allows you to learn other languages quickly, it is proven that 2 weeks of Esperanto can not only bring grammatical fluency, but cause you to learn other languages at a higher speed.
2. Although English is becoming this “international language”, it is not a good international language, the grammar is complicated, there are so many irregularities, and takes years to learn. Esperanto on the other hand is easy, because it’s simplicity does not come from limited ness, like Toki pona, but from simply having consistent grammar, and total regularity. Esperanto is so consistent and easy to learn compared to english and is equally, if not more usable and all encompassing at the same time.
3. Esperanto is not intended to be the ONLY language, but a second language, so that groups may have their own languages, while being able to speak with individuals from other groups
Pig Latin is not a language. It’s a language game. It’s like a skin pack for English. It works in most any language which means that it has no grammar, therefore is not a language
Unfortunately, English becomes shit in the mouth of most of its non native speakers... You are wrong, Esperanto, for any non native speaker of English, is better than English.
And objectively it is much richer than English.
Curt: I agree. I like Pig Latin and sometimes I use it when teaching phonics (I also use Name Game [you know, that song " ♫ Shirley Shirley Bo Birley Fee Fi Fo Firley, ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬ SHIRLEY!"] to teach phonics) but it's a game or a code, not a language.
Unless you disrupt the word order if pig-latin making it VOS, or SOV, use some other loan words, and voila! You got a new langauge!...
Wait, that's ACTUALLY a cool idea...
yep, it's a code
He included language game on his list for reasons to construct a language so he is maintaining internal consistency.
Pig Latin is not a conlang. It is a code for speaking English
I learned Esperanto 21 years ago as a second language. For me, it was my introduction to learning languages - I now have mastered Afrikaans, and I've just finished learning Zulu. The main things I dislike about Esperanto are the fanaticism I see online in regards to world peace, and anti-English language sentiments. And not everyone wants to go to a Universal Congress. Zamenhof invented Esperanto in order for the people of the world to get to know each other better - not to talk about Esperanto.
Actually, I gotta agree with it.
Zulu?? How have you learn Zulu?
@@venti462 You can learn Zulu on internet classes if you wish. The language uses the Latin alphabet as it didn't have one until it was transcribed. The OP seems to be from or at least visited South Africa and could've learned it from the Zulu people or a a course.
Certainly a good introduction. Cool languages you're learning.
Fans of world peace... hmm. Certainly the direction we should always work towards. It's a constant struggle and it likely always will be, to varying extents.
Esperanto isn't about anti-English (some fans of the language might be silly, but either way). The goal is not to replace English or any other language. It's just a secondary connecting language for everyone.
I agree with anti-(global)English sentiments as far as English being the global language. Because it's very difficult to learn in comparison (MANY places don't learn it, or don't learn much, or have their own form of it), and it has a lot of baggage to contend with, like essentially any language, to varying degrees. etc.
Don't have to go to a gathering. There's the internet for global stuff, and travelling, if you just meet up with a group, or the "Pasporta Servo", allowing you to communicate with them, without you needing to know the language of their specific region or whatever (or them needing to be kinda decent at English. Unless you just select for the ones who know likely your native language).
But also, you gotta build community around it, and grow it, in order for it to better act as a better bridge between the regions.
Great point about anti-English sentiment and a part of Esperanto culture being xenophobic.
Several of these are perfectly good reasons for not being interested in Esperanto. Many of the rest are misinformed (e.g. the nonsense about "dialects" and Ido) or not well thought out ("it lacks a language community" vs. "I'd rather learn a language that's on the verge of extinction" -- and for the record, many Esperantists hope that an easy-to-learn, neutral language might help *preserve* native languages). I'm sorry people have been pressuring you to learn Esperanto; you really don't have to! But it's better to say "I don't feel like it, thanks" than to come up with a long and somewhat dubious list of reasons.
And for the love of God, Pig Latin is NOT A CONLANG.
Quite a few of the Esperantists I know, have learned one or more "threatened" indigenous/tribal language. No one says that people should or would want to stop learning other languages. In fact, every world Esperanto conference I've ever heard of offers classes in the local language.
Esperanto speakers tend to appreciate language, and to appreciate the connection between language and culture. It's just that they believe people shouldn't have to spend years mastering one or more foreign languages (can take thousands of hours, plus expenses) and then still not be able to converse fluently with that person who speaks a _different_ "lingua franca".
This guy: Esperanto lacks a true speech community
Me, an intellectual: Pasporta Servo, Duolingo, Reddit, literally thousands of esperanto organizations that are too numerous to pinpoint where they are all going
Not a true community since they only get together deliberately because they speak this language.
@@arcticflower7223 "Not a true community since they only get together because they speak this language"
Do you know what a community is? A community is a group of people who get together because they have something in common. In this case, they all speak Esperanto!
There’s also the Flat Earth Society, but we don’t take it seriously
The issue remains that no one would be interacting with this community unless they deliberately sough it.
Why is that an issue.? Is a community only real in your eyes if it includes members who somehow accidentally stumbled upon it?
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and starting an interesting discussion!🤓 Esperanto was gaining popularity and had a substantial chance of becoming an international language before the wars. During the wars and in the post-war Eastern Europe Esperantist were persecuted.😢 That was a severe blow to the language development. Meanwhile English took over, and we've developed translating technology as you mentioned. I don't really know for how long Esperanto is going to last. I definitely met a lot of people involved in the community and happened to hear people using it in random places.😲 You don't have to learn it if you don't feel it but for many people just being a part of the Esperanto community is a good enough reason to learn it. Even if the language doesn't become a lingua franca of the World, its peace- and intercultural exchange-oriented culture keeps attracting many. 🌏🕊
Today I have watched your video again. It's funny , because you express just about the same reasons that I used to have for not learning esperanto before I started learning it, some 15 years ago. Let me add this to my yesterday comment : Esperanto is, by far, the easiest language that you can learn. But , at the same time, it's the MOST interesting thing that, from a strict language point of view, can EVER be learned. A language student shouldn't do without it. I promise I won't add anything else. Best wishes to you.
+1000
Yes, you are right. Toki Pona is a constructed language which has only 120 words. It also has very few(but very clever) grammar rules. It is a very interesting game in which its speakers must try to say as many things as possible with such a small amount of words. Another example of how interesting conlangs can be. Compared to them, "natural" languages are so boring...
There a problem if someone or I don't want to learn it?
Learning the 120 basic words and getting started with elementary conversational toki pona is easy.
To get C2 level in toki pona is another stuff. ^^
Because of contextuality. Very hard to get your point across.
Hmm, I'll have to check out this Toki Pona thing- I had always assumed it was a kind of New Guinea Pidgin English or something.
Learning Esperanto helps you to understand how languages are constructed. Learning french for me was 10x easier after learning Esperanto. if you want to be a polyglot, then learning Esperanto first really really helps with that. If you want to be a master musician you don't start a kid off with a cello, you start them off with a recorder and teach them the basics of music before you hand them a trombone. The same can be said for languages, also, there's still plenty of time for Esperanto to become an international language the community is growing every day! Lernu Esperanton! ^_^
This is the best argument for Esperanto, but is insufficiently used. Esperanto Speaker for 45 years, conversant in Hebrew, Yiddish, Arabic, Spanish and Portuguese. Touches of French and German.
True. There's a ton of examples. For example, I was learning French and lots of words are THE SAME.
Acxeti = acheter
Viando = Viande
And in Spanish... Well, do i have to continue?
Libro = Libro
Kato = Gato
How can it make you a polyglot when you still have to learn those other languages? How does it make French so much easier?
really? a long time ago i was obsessed with learning french (but couldnt because u know, america sucks about that.) i found out some of my family were from spain so im learning spanish. but im mostly french but the french language intimidates me sooo much. maybe ill try esperanto first to help.
Pig Latin is literally a joke.
the ido thing was completely wrong. Everyone speaks essentially the same dialect of Esperanto. Hardly anyone speaks Ido and those that do also know esperanto
I love the idea of Esperanto.
Let's imagine most young children in the world are taught it along with their native language. Well, they now have a way to communicate with people around the world. They also will have a much easier time in school when it comes time to learn a foreign language.
Not everyone speaks English or wants to. It's also nice that Esperanto is not connected to any country so doesn't carry any political baggage. I'm aware that it hasn't caught on much. But I feel like the idea behind it is a good one that we shouldn't be too quick to give up. Especially as we become more and more global.
The only problem I have with it is that I do feel it will be harder to learn for people that come from languages that aren't Romance or Germanic based. So, it's not perfect, but it's still a step in the right direction.
Hey, actually there is a large Esperanto speaking community in China, 1 girl from China has a youtube blog I follow. Also - I think many Asian countries perceive English as Colonialist language; British / American wars in India, China, Vietnam, Laos have made a bad reputation for English.
It’s almost like mixed Germanic and romance
@@DoctorCreme Yes, the same mixture as English, only carefully planned.
Okay I learned esperanto and I have no problem with you not learning esperanto. My reasons for learning it are because I think it is interesting and fun to speak. Plus the community is really tight nit and crazy excited about speaking with people. I am personally not tied to the ideologies of the language, I learn it because I like it and i plan on learning many languages so this is just step one. I think if it were to be a global lingua franca that would be cool But it is a LONG SHOT.
I am translating your video to Esperanto (and French) to show to people and animate a debate: it's perfect, it gathers all these arguments from people who know nothing about Esperanto and wish to show that they do (plus some surprising things like "dialects" in Esperanto, which I, as a an esperantist have never heard about! There is indeed another language named Ido, that is vastly inspired by Esperanto, but nobody speaks it, although it's not terribly harder - it just lacks the "spirit" of Esperanto)
I agree with Benny Lewis' article *Just 2 weeks learning Esperanto can get you months ahead in your target language* because I came to that conclusion at least a few years before he did. By the time I started learning Esperanto in 2004, I had already studied at least a half dozen languages and even gained fluency in a few of them. I was at an impasse in Russian, so I wanted to put that language on hold and find a new one to start learning, and I just couldn't make up my mind as to which one; I had already studied Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, German, and Russian. In 2004 I went to a local Esperanto meetup and many of the people there had failed, by their own admission, to learn a foreign language, but they found Esperanto and gained fluency in it. There was another person in attendance who spoke Russian, and we chatted in that for a bit. I think most people there were surprised I was able to pick Esperanto up so quickly, but my existing knowledge of French helped in that regard. Of course, I didn't stop at Esperanto. From time to time I've gone back and learned more Russian. Last year I "flirted" with Croatian and Ukrainian. On the Ecolinguist channel I watched a video of Norbert speak his native Polish with a founder of Interslavic speaking that language, and they were able to understand each other. Since learning Esperanto I've learned new techniques for learning languages. I'm not relying solely on copying phrasebooks or textbooks into notebooks with phrases, vocabulary, and grammar tables anymore - unless I don't have other options. One thing I tend to do is come back to languages I've even gained fluency in and learn more, in addition to coming back to the ones that obviously need improvement. English is currently the world's lingua franca, but Spanish is catching up, and French is making a comeback. I'd list Mandarin, but Chinese immigrants tend to learn the local language wherever they find themselves in the world.
"I won't learn esperanto because it is not widely spoken, because other people won't learn esperanto because it's not widely spoken" basically the point of the video lmao
Economies of scale is a very valid concern for any communication platform
@@nimrod06 If that were really an important factor, we'd never have settled on English as the world's de facto lingua franca. We'd have stuck with French. Or Latin.
@@bernardkung7306 English is NOT the lingua franca. It is spoken by less than 1/5 of the world's population. It is only a regional lingua franca of NA and UK, nothing more than Hindi, Arabic or Mandarin. Stop living in the western bubble and think that what happens here happens everywhere in the world. It's not.
@@nimrod06 {snicker}
Neither is pig Latin and he learned that so..🤷🏾♀️
I really wish people stopped making these "Why I'm not learning esperanto" videos. I search for esperanto videos every now and then, and get this kind of "statements" or whatever. In the last year it's become "cool" to post these clips (I've found quite a few), you simply should not learn it and that's it. I don't see many others posting why I'm not learning portuguese, Ido, klingon or interlingua, etc. Apparently one argument is that it would be better to learn near-extinct ones, well that's hardly a valid argument. Nothing's stopping you from learning two different ones. Time, right? IF you really want to, you would make enough time for both. Some people study languages for several hours a day, even when they have a full time job & a family... Excuses, excuses... Plus, that's just the main "reason" (excuse) not to learn it, because actually if you had to choose between learning a near-extinct language and esperanto; it's not like you could learn the endangered one in the SAME time as esperanto. It's not even close, it could take many years and be almost impossible to reach a truly advanced level in a near-extinct language 'cause there aren't many speakers alive nor learning material, so it's all just an unfounded manifesto, looking for attention I guess, sad.
Esperanto works fine as a spoken literary language but not yet as a 'political' movement. It has no country, money or army, but it has a growing diasporate of lively committed speakers across the world. Why not set aside the philosophical battle and find out personally what fun Esperanto really is?
Esperanto funkcias bone kiel parolata skriba lingvo sed ankoraŭ ne kiel politika movado. I havas neniun landon, monon aŭ armeon, sed ĝi havas kreskantan diasporaton de viglaj parolitaj parolantoj tra la mondo. Kial ne flankenmeti la filozofian batalon kaj eltrovi persone kia amuza Esperanto vere estas?
What do you make of Google's attempt to translate? Some odd errors, eh?
Don't worry about them. Ili estas nur ŝtultaj homoj, kompatindaj. Saluton.
𝐼'𝓂 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝐸𝓈𝓅𝑒𝓇𝒶𝓃𝓉𝑜, 𝐼'𝓂 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝑔𝒾𝓇𝓁𝓈 🤪😚🤭🥱🥺
Esperanto IS NOT any kind of mix. Such statements just push people away from learning it, cause one starts to think that it's just a kinda klingon or elfish joke for nerds, where it's not! Esperanto is unique, solid, live and very expressive communication tool, potentially better than any other! Although most of its vocabulary was taken from Latin and some other languages, it totally differences from all of them and Latin itself. Its grammar structure is so elegant, logic and genius. Even if there weren't other Esperantists and tons of books, it would be worth to learn Esperanto only for its elegance itself.
Vi pravas
Esperanto is one of the most interesting languages to learn. It's unique grammar makes it a pleasure. If you have any interests in conlangs this is the one that has more material, speakers, tradition and is probably the most enjoyable.
I LOVE Esperanto! I never had I learned a language so damn fast, including my own native language. It took me a couple of years to speak English.
Sed mi rapide parolas Esperanto.
Saluton. Kiel vi fartas ?
Mais c'est inutile.
says the person who can't use the acusative right
@@arcticflower7223 c'est pas comme si on lui avait donné la chance d'être utile... L'anglais a pris la place pour laquelle il se destinait c'est tout. C'est pas forcément la meilleure des choses, d'ailleur...
@@watersnake1462 I'm not going to read your reply but I acknowledge that there is utility in a) the hypothetical global auxiliary language that would at least have benefits that a natural language doesn't
b) interacting with the Esperantujo which certainly has its perks for the right kind of person and
c) its propaedeutic capacity.
Monolingual can learn faster a foreign language if they first learn a language like Esperanto. I spoke from experience. My mother tongue is Spanish, I learned Esperanto First and then switched to English. That's help me a lot in the language learning journey.
Same for me. Ahora hasta entiendo español. Auch Deutsch und andere fremde Sprachen.
Mi amas esperanton.
Kieron Hoswell ankaxu mi!
Kaj al mi
Videco
Es que soy relativamente nuevo en el idioma jaja
Perdon por el español
Saluton Videco.. Mi havas demandon, kio vi volas diri kiam vi diras ke li "fusxis"? Mi ne komprenas. Saluton
Mi ne amas esperanton, mi amegas esperanton.
Far from being a threat to other languages, it truly builds bridges. For someone who loves learning languages as a way of understanding cultures, Esperanto provides the most direct bridge into those other cultures.... eg if a Thai tourist were to travel to Hungary, I cannot see English playing the role of the intermediate language... it is widely spoken, but it presents big challenges for new adult speakers to master. Esperanto, on the other hand, is easy to learn. And in the example I state above, it will be so much more practical for the Thai to converse with the Hungarian in Esperanto... this is not a hypothetical example, more and more people are doing this these days. Of course the absolute numbers are still small, hence its worth encouraging. In Esperanto communities that I am a part of, its fascinating to see the mix of nationalities that come together and discuss their world in a common language directly person-to-person... what could beat that?
Se oni deziras lerni unu universala lingvo, Esperanto estas pli facila ol Anglan por atingi či tiun celon.
I just think it´s pragmatic. Esperanto can be learned several times faster than a natural language like English, for example. French people in a study learned Esperanto 10x faster than English and more than 6x faster than Italian.
This means that teaching English instead of Esperanto is a giant waste of time and money. Esperanto would be beneficial for education, science, international commerce etc. because the time and money people put into English could go elsewhere.
I don´t see how anyone could be against this, wherever they are on the political spectrum. I guess it´s comfy for English native speakers (less than 5% of the world´s population) but that´s about it.
Saying that Esperanto is obsolete because the world already speaks English (it´s actually 1-2 billion out of 7,8 billion) is basically a sunken cost fallacy - we gotta waste more time and money because we´ve already invested so much. It´s also like saying that we don´t need cell phones because using your landline is enough
It´s also more precise and leaves more room for creativity. My comment is already quite long so I shouldn´t even get started on why that is the case^^
wdym more precise and more room for creativity?
Even though I speak Esperanto fluently (not an easy accomplishment) I think you're totally right! I can't even understand why so many dislikes you got, you didn't say anything wrong ...
Lots of people say that. Everybody with a little knowledge of both languages can tell you that IDO is indeed based on Esperanto. IDO was created by a bunch of language-experts. They removed all slavic influences from Esperanto and replaced them with "more international" (=germanic/romanic) elements. Ido and Esperanto are at least as mutually intelligible as Dutch and Afrikaans
Bonege ke vi bone parolas esperanton, Mi ankaux parolas gxin kaj mi pensas ke Esperanto estas la plej simpla kaj facila lingo en la mondo.
Polyglots aren't always linguists, Gabriel Zanetti.
Gabriel Zanetti yeah except the difference between a language and a dialect is still something linguist themselves aren't even clear on; more often than not linguists decide if it's a dialect based on its mutual intelligibility and considering that ido and Esperanto are mutually intelligible it's not a stretch to say that they're dialects
Gabriel Zanetti ok thats fair, but that shouldnt be a reason to dismiss his argument
Nothing against you personally, you seem like a great person, and every polyglot I've met are very respectful towards others because of there ability to speak other languages and speak with people from different backgrounds.
But that dislike to like ratio really makes me happy.
Esperanto is intended for humans to be able to communicate regardless if you were born on two opposite sides of the earth. It wasn't meant to replace anything, but to add on and build a bridge between human connection.
Reason #1 : wrong. Esperanto is spoken at least on 6 continents and 120 countries. This only, makes it international. You're mixing the notions of "International language" and "World language".
Reason #2 : wrong. That community has even a name in esperanto : "la movado" - the movement. And it's bountiful.
Reason #3 : wrong. Esperanto is meant to be a secundary language. Not a primary one. Besides, most of esperantist people are polyglots, and Esperanto helps them learn new languages, by means of understanding grammar and curiosity for other cultures..
Speaking of your basement, go outside, have a little bit of sun and fresh air, and find for yourself why you are so wrong. You'r free to learn esperanto or not, but give up bullshit trying to explain why you won't.
Friendly yours,
(Even if you got a thumb down from me for all crap you said in this video)
But in practice it is barely a local language since every native speaker will speak the language of their locale.
Still an artificial community.
At no point did he imply that he thought that Esperanto would replace any language. Only that it wouldn't help the dying ones.
Pretty valid reasons I thought and I don't 100% agree with all of it.
Kio la fek' vi estas fekulo
1) still fewer speakers than Swazi so the point still stands.
2) I thought it was "Esperantujo"? Either way, see number 1.
3)Any language helps one to learn languages and I'd rather learn useful ones. Why must it be universal? Why can't the global language be someone's first language? That's sinister.
Seems someone can't take a challenge....
I speak esperanto fluently. I participated in many esperanto meetings include the most important of these which is the Universal congress of Esperanto.
For me learn esperanto was very important to me. The learning of esperanto takes me understand any language better. My efficiency about learn grammar and vocabulary of any language increased a lot after I had learned this language.
About others reasons I agree with you. The community of esperanto is small, Only in internacional meetings of espeanto speakers I can speak esperanto all the day. Even in the internet the community is not so vivid.
About usefulness, in France 90% of learners of English will learn it too badly to use it really. That is a problem !!!
I'd think learning ANY language would help you better understand how languages work. What makes Esperanto so special??
@@zanziboi because you can get literate level 10x times faster than any other language.
If you don't have much time to study languages you will not be motivated to fully learn an language..
but with esperanto chances are higher that you will master it even with low time.
Cringe esperanto is for hippies
I decided i will learn esperanto to torment esperanto speakers
My intent is to move to Japan, work, and have a family. Japanese is very different from English, and I've heard many people say that Esperanto helped them understand language more, and I want to speak at least 3 languages by the time im 35 and im a teenager. So I think I will learn Esperanto
Creo que soy inteligente y no pierdo mi tiempo estudiando a fondo tantos idiomas para comunicarme con las personas de distintos países(es cierto que estudio algunos superficialmente por mera distracción y curiosidad), motivo por el cual aprendí y sigo mejorando mi Esperanto ya que es un idioma internacional y neutro(definitivamente mi segunda lengua) y no pretende "imponerse". Es Esperanto es más fácil que mi idioma nativo, puedo comunicarme y entender con cierta facilidad después de 6 meses de estudio constante (30 minutos al día), estoy feliz, además veo que el Esperanto crece día a día(lento pero seguro), consideremos que el Esperanto solo tiene una edad de aproximadamente 130 años y otros como el inglés cerca de 800 años, aunque el chino mandarín es el más hablado en el mundo y el gobierno chino está dando su apoyo al Esperanto, eso es un buen síntoma porque China luego se convertirá en potencia mundial sobre Estados Unidos y no pretende imponer su idioma(que es terriblemente difícil de aprender incluso para los propios chinos). Muchos detractores dicen "el fracaso del Esperanto", pero están lejos de la realidad, el Esperanto avanza, no retrocede. Estoy conociendo personas muy agradables de todo el mundo gracias a este "colang". Por todo esto debieras: ESTUDIAR ESPERANTO!. Saludos desde Chile!
El idioma que te ayudaría a comunicarte con el mayor número de personas alrededor del mundo es el inglés. Por cierto, el Esperanto en realidad no es neutro, es un idioma europeo básicamente.
Hola amigo, qué recurso estás usando para aprender Esperanto? Saludos desde Valparaíso y muchas gracias de antemano!
Tienes razón. Soy irlandés, y estoy apprendiendo castellano, pero mi Esperanto es mucho mejor.
O único erro foi falar que aprender outras línguas é perda de tempo, principalmente hoje em dia, que o esperanto ainda não é uma língua com tantos falantes assim. Se você quiser viajar para a França, por exemplo, você não pode chegar lá achando que todo mundo vai falar esperanto
@@gugaara1 Por desgracia no hablo portugues, pero lo entiendo. Pero Esperanto ayuda mucho a aprender francés.
A quite persuasive argument in favor of learning Esperanto, which is a complete language with 130 years of use behind it, not a made-up language that popped up yesterday. Most of the words in Esperanto were not created by Zamenhof but by his successors: Esperanto is subject to the rules of language change just like any other language. And languages are not "natural": they are made by human beings. Nor was Esperanto intended to replace other languages: most speakers of Esperanto have an intense interest in preserving linguistic diversity and reviving endangered languages.
He is indeed wrong on certain points, but because the video is not really insulting, I won't click on the thumb-down.
There is a speech community, and there is a giant Esperanto discussion group on Facebook. It is not true that Ido would be a dialect of Esperanto, if that would be true, Afrikaans is a dialect of Dutch. Ido and Afrikaans are not dialects of Esperanto and Dutch respectively.
Esperanto has evolved from the stage that it was a conlang in the way other conlangs were. As far as I know, Esperanto is the only language that did not die when its author died. Other conlangs died together with the author.
I no longer see Esperanto as a conlang, but I will say it so, when others ask what Esperanto is, or say: "Never heard of it."
I am not free of criticism mainly against the Esperanto community. I have to say that there are people, eternaj komencantoj, the most of the time that endlessly come up with reforms without really learning the language. Because Zamenhof has thought many things through, there is everything there what Esperanto needs. There is no needs for reforms. Instead of trying to change Esperanto, learn the language. You will notice that it does not need any reforms at all.
I decided to try to learn Esperanto because I heard it would be easy to learn. But the main reason was cuz why not? I can kinda understand it now. I think I could probably get by with my current knowledge if I went somewhere that speaks Esperanto.
Esperanto seems to me more like an intellectual culture mostly popular among the people in the older generations. What I like about it is that I really feel liberated from the pressure to speak or write perfectly as the Esperantists are mostly non-natives and very tolerant with beginners and mistakes. I do not think it will ever become popular enough to be a widely spoken international language but it is actually very interesting in many aspects. Definitely give it a try yourself to see, especially if you have some background in European languages and language learning. Mi studis Esperanto nur unu tago kaj mi jam povas fari mallongajn esperantajn frazojn sen uzi vertaron. Tio diras ke vere estas facila lingvo. Mi esperis vedi pli da vertoj ke venas el la asiajn lingvojn sed mi ne vidis nenion.
Zamenhof began working on his Esperanto more or less at the same time when Eliezer Benyehuda started to use Hebrew as a living language, and the curious fact is that Zamenhof thought the idea of reanimating Hebrew was stillborn. It turned out that Zamenhof was wrong. Hebrew is the official language of Israel! Could people have done the same thing with Latin? They are trying....
Latino havas ne denaskajn parolojn
@@universenerdd Korekte! Dum la lastaj - ni diru proksimume - mil jaroj neniuj lernis la latinan linvon denaske sed ili komencis je tre frua aĝo! Plimalpli kiel ni nuntempe eklernas la normalan lingvon de niaj landoj kaj ne nur la dia/sociolekto per kiu ni komunikadas kun parencoj kaj plej proksima ĉirkaŭaĵo. Lernado de la latina lingvo tamen signifas ke oni konatiĝas kun komunikilo kiu estas uzata jam dum miloj da jaroj. Mi rekomendas ĝin.
I'm learning Esperanto so I can pass it onto my children and turn it into their first language before english so if they choose to learn other languages it'll be much easier to learn them
TrulySuzukiGaming Same here
Teaching them French instead would make life easier still since French is more challenging and more useful.
As a first language Esperanto is probably the worst one, growing up bi- or multilingual with one or more native languages (English/Finnish/German/French/Vietnamese etc) plus Esperanto would be more ideal.
Only speaking Esperanto would be bad for future language learning because it's so simple with more or less no irregularities and in general simple grammar, so everything you learn after would be harder.
It's an ideal language to learn as an adult because it teaches you about grammar and to analyse the language you're learning in a more efficient way than any other languages I've learnt, but as an only language it's not ideal.
Esperanto speaking kids take a longer time to learn the irregularities in other languages they speak than other kids their age who don't speak Esperanto and learning verb conjugations would be way harder than for someone who speaks a language that has verb conjugation (I wish Swedish had kept the verb conjugations because I found learning other languages so hard because verb conjugations don't exist in modern Swedish).
Since everything you learn as a baby/kid is "free" more or less, I'd personally want my kids to learn the hardest languages possible from childhood so they don't have to put too much concious effort into it later. English or Esperanto are languages that my kids could easily learn when they are older so I wouldn't prioritise them when they could learn German and Finnish in addition to my native language.
@@arcticflower7223 Look kid. French is only useful in canada or Europe. There isn’t a significant French speaking minority. “It’s more challenging” the point is to get a language that makes it easier to learn other languages. Not call water eaux for some dumb reason. Akvo
"It may be hard to find Esperanto speakers, let alone those who speak the same dialect as I do"
(considering Ido a dialect) Oh you mean the 99% that speak normal esperanto?
I like esperanto, its idea is to be a language without culture or countries attached to it. Avoiding this way to give an unfair advantage to the countries and people whose language is a lingua franca. Also, it is incredibly regular and easy to learn.
Sadly, as you said, it hasn't achieved its goal, It is not as widely spoken as it should. We, the current speakers are trying to rise it, and the people who learn it know that even though it is not popular, they help the cause to eventually achieve the goal of a non-national universal language.
Its true : /. But esperanto is not hard, it can be taught in 1-2
trimesters in high school. Which makes it ideal to replace inglish as lingua franca. It's not about its culture, but about which is more handy.
I think the idea of a neutral constructed global language makes sense in a utopian way, but the idea of avoiding an unfair advantage doesn't hold water for me since the alternative is just to make it harder for more people without making it that much easier for anyone.
@Latam 'Nan I want to be able to think in a language that has no cultures or nations behind it whatsoever, and that's because I want complete control of my thought process without the influence of the culture that's behind the language that I'm using.
Why u won't learn Esperanto - bcz English , French, German, Spanish , Portuguese, Russian ...
according to scientists , a language dies every 14 days ( 7:27) -bcz English , French, German, Spanish , Portuguese, Russian ...
Esperanto is a best way to defend ''little'' languages .
agreed
💯
Politely disagreeing, I think it could help save languages in a certain respect. Part of the reason I think most people give up on trying to learn other languages is because managing 2 complicated grammar structures gets to be too much, so they end up just choosing one. If the lingua franca that you're learning is very simple then it encourages you to use it alongside your current native language
Many polyglots are not learning Esperanto eventhough it could take only a few days effort for a trilingual person (who speaks English or a Latin language well) to become conversant in Esperanto. Duolingo-polyglots generally will not learn and USE Esperanto. Even among the one and a half million Duolingo learners of Esperanto, half in the USA, far below ONE percent are using Esperanto (i.a.at a FB group) or are coming to meetings, especially in the United States (There are several reasons why USA Americans don't learn languages i.a. little vacation time (which allow travel and face to face language learning), great debt after college and belief in their own superiority among other reasons). I have advocated for Esperanto for 45 years and there is a sudden illusion that Duolingo learners will knock down the doors of Esperanto clubs. I suggest we go elsewhere to find new Esperanto speakers. I do recommend you learn Esperanto if you want close friends, get invited to people's homes in one hundred countries (Pasporta Servo). Michael, you are totally wrong about not being able to find Esperanto speakers. Only if you are part of the 1% most extrovert/friendly people who speak English will English prove easier to meet people than those using Esperanto. I like many of your thoughts but you are wrong on Esperanto. Esperantists also support small minority languages and you will need much more exploration about the Esperanto community to make the proper conclusion (Strong Esperanto movements have long existed in Hungary, Lithuania and Catalunia) . But let's be realistic: Half of the languages I've read about have less than 20.000 speakers and quite nearly extinct. Sadly some languages with a million speakers are at risk. I hope a few hundred of largest languages will survive. (UN statistic: The last speaker of a language is dying at a rate of 1 language every two weeks.) There are over 6.000 documented languages. Another mistake you make: 90% of polyglots make: Most USA Americans born here will not even be modestly bilingual, a great loss for this country. Good luck in preserving another dying language, seriously.
So, if I know french, English and a few other languages...
Esperanto will be easy for me?
@@youtuber1660 Not easy: Very easy.
"Only if you are part of the 1% most extrovert/friendly people who speak English will English prove easier to meet people than those using Esperanto."
1 in 8 people in the world speak English at a good level.
1 in about 80,000 speak Esperanto at a good level.
Do not talk nonsense.
Im learning Esperanto right now and i’ve found it easier to speak to my french cousin. Im so excited to finish.
In my view the main purposes of learning Esperanto are as a bridge language and as a motivator to learn other languages. It can serve as a bridge language by making you more familiar with the linguistic features of the language groups it is based on so that when you go on to study those languages it's less of a steep learning curve. But it serves especially well as a motivator (at least for monolingual people who aspire to learn new languages). In a relatvely short time you can demonstrate to yourself that you are capable of learning another language fluently. It ceases to be something you know you could do theoretically and becomes something you know that you can do through experience. That can then give you the extra motivation and drive to learn natural languages, which are a bit more complicated and take much more time to learn.
2:30 that's exactly one thing that Esperanto (as well as many other languages) prevent, you can read a word you have NEVER seen before and know exactly how to pronunce it. This maybe isn't a problem for you, as you already know how to speak and pronunce English (don't know if it's your primary language), but it's a biig problem fot those looking forward to learn it and becomes a big discourage to those who doen't get very well with learning new languages
The like/dislike ratio is AGRESSIVE on this one. Actually quite brave of him to keep it up. 3 points to Ravenclaw
I want to learn it because it's supposedly a really great introduction to learning others languages.
If I learn Esperanto is because I chose it but I was forced to learn English and you can imagine my feelings about it
These are pretty valid points. On your last point, I am an Esperantist, but I am also learning the native American language of my ancestors.
Also, mmmmmost Esperantists are not Finavenkistoj. (People who subscribe to Zamenhof's ideology of having a universal language)
There's lots of different reasons why people learn Esperanto. For the Pasporta Servo (you should look that up) or like me, out of pure curiosity.
It's actually not that hard to find Esperantists in the real world.
I totally respect you though, I'm not trying to attack you.
Take care! God bless!
Just to make it clear there, it's intended to try and be the universal connecting language, but it's not intended to replace any native languages. It's a secondary language for everyone.
My nativ language is slavic. I learned english in school for 10 years.
Is it worth learning any other language then English?
I learned French for two years. I learned Italian for four years. I have traveled nether to France nor to Italy. I visited Hungary, Germany, Russia, Romania and Holland. I listened a lot to french and italian musik. I had the opportunity to talk to some italians (3-4 times) about 1 hour in total. I am not capable to watch films or news nor to read literature in original.
I have been learning Esperanto for two years. After three months of study I started reading my first novel (using dictionary a lot at the beginning) . I have red few books, I can understand videos, news and radio podcasts. Few times a month I participate in chat meetings on the Internet on various topics. I'm not fluent yet.
In my case, the ratio of benefits to the effort invested in learning is convincigly in favor of Esperanto.
Dankon pro via rakonto! Ankaŭ por mi la avantaĝoj de Esperanto multe superas la elspezojn de ĝia lernado. / Thank you for your story! For me too, the benefits of Esperanto far outweigh the costs of learning it.
im learning esperanto, and i absolutely adore it! my personal belief is that, no matter the reason for not learning a language, whether it be pig latin, german, or esperanto, is a valid reason no matter what. it may not be valid to you, but it is valid for the person not wanting to learn it. no one is gonna force you to speak french, so why should they force you to learn esperanto. adiaŭ, kaj bonan tagon!
We need a second language to communicate with the rest of the world. So why not make it as easy as possible? Take a few Esperanto lessons on Duolingo. It will take you a few minutes and you'll know what I'm saying.
One of the things that has been the greatest surprise to me is the extent to which Esperanto DOES has a very vibrant, well-connected speech community, especially amidst the pandemic. I've found it easier to engage with other eager Esperantists over the last year or two than any of the many other languages I study.
So many times I’ve been thinking of the need, the application of Esperanto.
simply,
You learn Because its fun! The universal idea speaks to me.
What you like , you will perform well . And what you can perform well will be appreciated.
When you like something you smile , and the smile is a state of one being in harmony with oneself. One intelligent choice.
There are lots of smiles on the Esperanto RUclipsrs. I appreciate them being in that state , liking what they do.
Would be interesting to see where Esperanto is 30 years from now.
Esperanto has Never been growing this fast!
I hope no other polyglot thinks like you, because I would love to see a polyglot learning ithkuil III (or ithkuil iv)
Well, I don't know if I'm right, but I speak Esperanto and I'm going to attend the Esperanto World Congress/2018, in Lisbon. There are already nearly 1500 subscribers to this congress, from 75 countries. By the way, I also took part in the Word Congress/2014, in Buenos Aires. It was a good experience.
so much travel, i'm jelly
I learned Esperanto. It was fast. I love it. I just wanna thank you, because saying that, you attracted a loooot of esperantists to this place to show exactly the opposite what you said. No offense.
________________________
Sukceson! Tion mi kordeziras al cxiuj.
It isn't supposed to replace anything it's supposed be a bridge between languages.
It’s an auxiliary language. There is no intention for it to replace the usage of another language but instead allow people to communicate who would normally not speak the same language - a back up language so to speak.
I found your channel because of your Afrikaans and Dutch video (I’m Dutch myself) I still watch your videos because I think they are really interesting. Just wanted to say that. Keep it up!
I think esperanto should be a bridge language to help people learn foreign languages, because of its structure esperanto can make the meaning behind certain translations more clear than if you only learn through your native language, especially if your native tongue is English like me. Although there are certain aspects of esperanto that should be adjusted to make the language less confusing, like a custom script more similar to Korean or some other language that has less complicated letters that can be easily mistaken for one another for people with dyslexia.
I won't waste time pointing out all of the ways this so called linguist fails to get the point of Esperanto, as others have done so already. If you don't like the language or think there would be one better suited to being international, then make those arguments, but stop saying "Esperanto has failed", it makes you look really stupid.
There was never a time limit put on Esperanto, saying it has failed to achieve it's goal is like calling a marathon runner a failure, 8 seconds after they start running. The world is a big place and Esperanto Is Still spreading. Daily.
I think it's very interesting. I see a lot of counter-arguments on his video above. However, I can list a few reasons that I likely won't learn Esperanto.
1. I actually didn't know that this language existed. In fact, I was researching about language vs. dialect then I came across this word on Wikipedia. Then I realized that this was actually a thing and was amazed that there are actually Esperanto speakers. However, it's fair to see that this language, compared to all the other major languages in the world is not very well known. Most of my family and friends did not know about this language and were equally amazed when they learned that this is a thing.
2. Lack of materials for me to learn. You always see advertisements, exams, instructors that teach you English, French, Spanish, Chinese...etc, however, I've never seen any school or any 3rd party providers teaching this language (at least not in where I live). I've actually been doing a lot of research and has grown in interests in this language. However, I don't know where to start if I were to learn it. Where would I ever use it? I heard that many speakers self-teach themselves and there are clubs/conventions with Esperanto speakers. But I really don't know why I would do that. There are also many interesting languages out there (which I think is what he's trying to say in the video), what's the incentive for me to go out there to learn Esperanto? This leads me to my next point.
3. Lack of association to daily life/culture/identity: I understand that this language was created as "supplement" to the primary languages that you speak. It's meant to be an international and common language that can breakdown language barriers. The fact that I've never heard of it until today (maybe I'm just ignorant) is kind of proof that it's very uncommon in my country. There are many incentives for everyone before learning a new language (we all lead a busy life and it's fair to say that it's impossible to learn every language in the world), so you'd have to pick and choose the languages that you want to learn next. Out of many great and interesting languages in the world, such as Arabic, Spanish, English, Russian...etc? One may learn Chinese Mandarin when they travel to China, or learn Portuguese because they want to visit Brazil. I learned Spanish because I liked their music and for business purposes. My friend took German since he was interested in the history and culture of Germany and the world wars. The only reason that I can think of for learning Esperanto is - pure interests. There are no books I can read that purely written in Esperanto but not in other languages, there are no major countries that I can visit that only speaks and writes Esperanto, there is no one that I can practice Esperanto with, and it's fair to say that in my country, I likely won't be able to use the language at all unless I personally seek out the people that speak it.
I understand that the intention is good, but I take pride in the languages I speak and write. Just like how many comments here proudly defend Esperanto and why it's a great language (and I believe so too). In a way, a language (and its accent) also represents where you come from, your country's culture, and your background. Esperanto is meant to be an international language, but it's precisely its lack of roots that I don't find it as appealing. Yes it's cool that it's "international", but I don't seem to find a story behind it as it's still relatively new and artificially constructed. You can argue that all languages are likely artificially constructed, but they evolved over thousand of years to be the way it is today and I find it very cool that I can trace the stories and meaning behind a certain word's origin (such as Chinese characters). Being able to speak Spanish and understand the music that I love, and brag to my family and friends bring immense pride to me and social recognition. I don't really see that happening with Esperanto.
I'm sure Esperanto is easy to learn (within 150 hours sounds amazing), but the thing is, you won't know how easy it is until you try it. In reality, when you travel and you encounter something that you cannot explain in your language, the second language that you switch to is likely English (as supplement), not Esperanto. So I understand what the video is trying to say, perhaps he didn't word it well, but I agree with his point of view.
It didn't fail it's speakers were killed off by the Nazis -_-
Or if the French didn't veto the UN making their language Esperanto
@@FreakishSmilePA Really? I didn't know that. Tell me more, please.
@@FreakishSmilePA The league of nations actually
i care more about speaking and promoting the most simple language, rather than preserve something that might have been too complicated for its own good
English isn’t neutral, Esperanto is as an international language
TBH a portion of the Esperanto community is definitely toxic. They're the kind of people that will blindly dislike a video like this no matter how well presented you were in defining your reasons. They are the kind of people who want Esperanto to still succeed today, and are overpassionate about it. I've learned Esperanto as a fun way to start getting into learning languages, similar to how you would learn to play the recorder in primary/elementary school to learn the basics of music. It's been fun getting to feel what it could be like to get really good at a language. I won't get into the controversy over whether or not Esperanto has a "culture" of its own.
A lot of the community is well-hearted, and I love it when I get to interact with these people, but there are some people who just get butthurt over things like this video.
Ne maltrakviliĝu pri ilin. Ili ne komprenas, kion vi diras.
Feliĉan usonan tagon de la sendependiĝo!
If you're a polyglot, you don't have to learn Esperanto, you pick it up by glancing at an Esperanto text and maybe quickly referring to a mere 'sixteen rules'.
I like this video because even though you misunderstood the intention of Esperanto (it's not meant to replace already existing languages, I used to think this as well), you were really respectful and at the end you said that you're even excited for people learning Esperanto. That is nice to hear after looking at some criticisms that were quite rude. I'm fine with people not being interested in learning Esperanto. Learn it because you want to, not because you feel like you should.
I wouldn't say that your decisions to not learn Esperanto is controversial, but the idea of Esperanto in general is polarizing with two very outspoken sides to it. There is actually a very loud and obnoxious group of people who HATE Esperanto. I have studied in the past and don't REALLY care for it, but I find it mildly interesting and entertaining. In the end I'm pretty apathetic about it though. But goddamn, some people HATE it.
Well said.....coming from a long-time Esperantist. I wish I could be more diplomatic myself.
I strive to try and see everyone's side at all times, but the Esperanto debate is sooooo polarized it's hard sometimes.
Now, I'm more neutral about Esperanto. I'm no longer learning it, but still like the language.
Why somebody would make full video about why he won't learn language😐
EO: Neniu volas lerni Esperanton ĉar neniu parolas ĝin. Neniu parolas ĝin ĉar neniu volas lerni ĝin.
EN: No one wants to learn Esperanto because nobody speaks it. Nobody speaks it because nobody wants to learn it.
IT: Nessuno vuole imparare l'Esperanto perché nessuno lo parla. Nessuno ne parla perché nessuno vuole impararlo.
ES: Nadie quiere aprender Esperanto porque nadie lo habla. Nadie lo habla porque nadie lo quiere aprender.
manga de forros mi devas diri ĝin en kvar lingvoj por ke ĝi komprenu
Actually, a lot of people would like to learn it, but many of them want to be forced to by their government - like we are forced to learn English.
ronaldonmg "forced" is a strong word, but yes, I would rather learn Esperanto in school instead of english
The reason Esperanto "failed" was because it was persecuted during World War Two. Both Hitler and Stalin were afraid of it and esperantists ended up in concentration camps and gulags because of their involvement with Esperanto and related communities.
Before the persecution, Esperanto was widely used in European commerce, transportation, and more. Afterwards, it was difficult to find esperantists until the groundswell re-emergence, beginning in the 1970s.
For more on this history, read "Dangerous Language" by Ulrich Lins
Male, ĉi tion mi denove deklaras: ju pli oni diras, ke esperanton si ne ŝatas, aŭ volas lerni des pli la tutmonda intereso pri la lingvo kreskiĝas. Jes, mi ne ŝercas. Ĉi tiuj opinioj estas kiujn esperanto bezonas. Estas la atento kiun la esperanta movado ege bezonas. Mi nek disputas pri la avantaĝo de esperanto nek ĝin promocias. La nura fakto, ke tempon oni traktas por siajn opiniojn diri, sufiĉas por mi.
do you know there's native Esperanto speakers right
Just because a language is easier to learn, doesn't mean it's uncultured.
I won't learn to drive a car because chariot driving is being forgotten
I really don't care that you don't want to learn it. So you make a video as if people care? Mkay...
Apparently some people do care and they asked him whether he would learn it. So he's really just responding to his subscribers.
@@MrChristKBut he should respond good and intelligent. But this video is stupid and his own meaning. In school it would be a really worse grade.
You didn't have to watch it.
Im a Afrikaner, and ive studied Esperanto, i no longer use it for the intend of becoming a international language, i now just speak it cuz i have become inlove with the community
I learnt basic conversational Esperanto in a few weeks, and found I could read it better than write it or speak it, I even went on a weekend course to immerse myself further... to be honest, the weekend course was the reason I gave it up and haven’t dipped my toe into Esperanto for the last five years. Here are my opinions in Esperanto.
1. The idea of Esperanto being a universal second language for all, that we learn from birth alongside our national language is a fantastic idea...no language barriers anywhere in the world, no need for expensive translation software or translators in international business and diplomacy...business leaders and politicians can speak to each other directly so there is no need for interpreters or reasons for important facts to get lost in translation. This is a no brainer.
2. The idea that Esperanto will bring about world peace is I’m afraid total bullshit. You could have talked Esperanto to people like Hitler, Stalin, Caesar or Napoleon all you wanted...it would never have stopped them doing what they did.
3. Do I think Esperanto has developed its own culture? Yes I do...Do I think Esperanto SHOULD have its own culture,? Not really. I’m not about to disenfranchise those who embrace it in this way, but as a language there is no need for it to have a flag....or an anthem that people stand and sing with their hand on their heart. It’s a language and should be used as a language only. There is no need to politicise it in this way...and what political identity it has assumed is very VERY left wing....almost verging on communistic. I know Stalin (the commies commie) outlawed and persecuted Esperantists but none the less I found the majority of people I met and conversed with during my Esperanto experiment were of this left wing persuasion ...and it was this reason more than any other I chose to reject it...if it can be reestablished purely as a language only , the flag and ‘la Espera’ disposed of and a concerted effort is made by all schools and in all countries to teach it, then ‘lol happily come back on board.
I loved your comment. Thank you for the enlightening information!
You are right that many Esperanto speakers have left wing view, and many are also vegetarians or vegans. But I know many Esperanto speakers who are not left wing. It is a very diverse community, which includes all kinds of people. That is its richness.
I didn't get offended by your video I just wanted to add that I am learning esperanto because I notice that it had some similarities to other languages and my husband is learning French and yes we notice that some words sound the same so I decided to continue with esperanto I think that that way it would be way easier for me to learn other languages
And you are right. Esperanto was created for easy communication. It has no armies, no money, no oil, it didn't kill millions of people - so people underestimate it, but it is the most powerful language of this planet, the future of international language.
The best part is at the end when we get watch Dancing Michael.
I liked the way you ended this video "I'm just a guy in a basement..." it makes the whole thing more light hearted and humble, whether or not you agree with the content of the video. This was interesting to watch, but I think I'll still learn Esperanto :-)
Another one who has no clue is trying to cast his ignorant opinion regarding things he didn't research properly. Some facts checking is required.
I have also heard and read that if you are learning your first new language that Esperanto is a great way to go. Since it is easy to learn it is rewarding in that you can progress quickly. You are also training your brain how to learn a new language and with esperanto you have vocab and some grammar structures from other languages giving the new learner a familiarity with multiple European languages.
But, if you are already multilingual, Esperanto is just for interest or fun.
New meat should take a few months to learn it and then move on to their real target language. Their brain will be more prepared to learn which will increase their overall learning rate.
there are other uses for esperanto, like for learning other languages more easily
in Brief....I wouldn't learn Esperanto cause My native language is already the international language......
Why did google sugest me this SHIT when I search "esperanto"?
7:00 it wasn't , esperanto was intended to be a TOOL between diferent folks and nations , in that case we shall not learn english , oh wait shall we?
besides which english dialect ? and why not spanish or mandarin or arabic ?
Mi lernas Esperanton, ĉar mi volas lerni la italan, sed la italan estas pli malfacila ol esperanton.
ankaŭ mi, sed kun la hispana anstataŭ la itala.
Mi lernis la Germanan, sed mi pli ŝatas lerni Esperanton.