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Learn Esperanto in a few days

de Bemused, 2011-decembro-22

Mesaĝoj: 17

Lingvo: English

Bemused (Montri la profilon) 2011-decembro-22 06:43:59

Yes folks, here it is, straight from the pen of the man who invented the language.

" Thus the acquirement of this rich, mellifluous, universally-comprehensible language, is not a matter of years of laborious study, but the mere light amusement of a few days."

Excerpt from:

Dr. Esperanto’s
International Language,Introduction &
Complete Grammar by Ludovic Lazarus Zamenhof

English Edition
translated by
R.H. Geoghegan
Balliol College, Oxford
1889
New printing,
edited and preface by
Gene Keyes
2000
Halifax, Nova Scotia: Verkista

Final line, subsection I.

Hmm, I must have missed something, it has certainly taken me more than a few days to acquire less than even a rudimentary understanding.

lgg (Montri la profilon) 2011-decembro-22 07:08:00

Dr. Esperanto’s
International Language,Introduction &
Complete Grammar by Ludovic Lazarus Zamenhof
AKA "Unua Libro"?

We should note some things there:
- Zamenhoff was targeting the middle and upper social classes for his initiative. Those people knew Latin, classic Greek, French at the very least, and should have no problems with e-o.
- It could be quoted from the editorial. People nowadays will perjure everything to sell you their cr^Wstuff.
- Esperanto was _really_ easier in 1887, before it fell in hands of these idiots who are in its charge now.

TL/DR: Don't trust advertizement!

ludomastro (Montri la profilon) 2011-decembro-22 07:16:15

Out of curiousity which "idiots" would those be?

lgg (Montri la profilon) 2011-decembro-22 07:27:18

ludomastro:Out of curiousity which "idiots" would those be?
Academy of Esperanto, of course. Just have a look how its members behave themselves in public, and you will understand.

darkweasel (Montri la profilon) 2011-decembro-22 07:37:48

To all beginners: Please ignore user "lgg"’s anti-Esperanto rants, he keeps trolling against Esperanto in the entire forum.

Evildela (Montri la profilon) 2011-decembro-22 10:56:55

I also would love to know what these "idiots" have done?? Now Esperanto would have been easier back then, but the language has certainly grown massively but that's to be expected with any language which wants to do more then talk about basic everyday topics... Also the people who could afford his book back then usually knew one or two more languages.

Miland (Montri la profilon) 2011-decembro-22 11:24:44

Bemused:"Thus the acquirement of this rich, mellifluous, universally-comprehensible language, is not a matter of years of laborious study, but the mere light amusement of a few days."
That text was written mainly for Europeans, who may well have studied Latin and French, the latter being a widely used diplomatic language in the 19th century, and so had probably come across the majority of the roots of Esperanto in some form. Not surprisingly, they picked up Esperanto quickly enough.

erinja (Montri la profilon) 2011-decembro-22 12:44:19

It's not the light amusement of a few days, I'd call that a mix of overblown advertising and what everyone has already mentioned about his target audience of the time being highly educated people who probably already had a couple of languages.

The best part of that antaŭparolo is Zamenhof's insights on why other constructed languages fail - too hard to learn, complicated grammar, words that are nonsense sounds. The book was published when Volapuk was at the height of its popularity, so when the book was published, Volapuk's failure was not the foregone conclusion that it seems to be today.

sudanglo (Montri la profilon) 2011-decembro-22 12:44:29

Zamenhof's claims were probably commensurate with the Victorian advertising standards of his day.

Mustelvulpo (Montri la profilon) 2011-decembro-22 13:37:24

Bemused:" Thus the acquirement of this rich, mellifluous, universally-comprehensible language, is not a matter of years of laborious study, but the mere light amusement of a few days."
When I see sentences like this, it seems to me that Esperanto has been more consistent from then to now than English has.

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