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What do you consider cool ?

av Bemused, 14 februari 2012

Meddelanden: 17

Språk: English

Bemused (Visa profilen) 14 februari 2012 07:19:43

It seems that Esperanto has not yet reached critical mass, the point at which the number of speakers increases exponentially.

So the question is, what do you consider cool, hip, trendy, or whatever word of the same meaning you prefer?

And the next question is, how could that be used to increase the number of people wanting to learn Esperanto?

omid17 (Visa profilen) 14 februari 2012 09:40:11

We need more sophisticated and well moderated websites like lernu, that would focus on other areas like social networking, dating and interactions like that. They could use ads and donations to cover the costs.

It would also be very great if someday we have active websites on commerce and jobs. I know sites like Eklaboru exist, but a brief look at the dates of the last postings show how up to date they are!

Other than these, I think EO needs more original material in literature and music. Good quality music is a great means to promote the language.

It's not much about hip and fashionable things as is about quality stuff.

omid17 (Visa profilen) 14 februari 2012 09:49:08

Indeed, I don't think EO will attract an unusually large audience at once. It has been gradually and steadily spreading and the rate of the newcomers apparently hasn't changed much and unless a powerful government or international organization formally incorporates it into its system, no matter what we do, nothing major happens in the foreseeable future.

Good promotion needs money and influence, I am thinking what would happen if Soros had remained loyal to EO!

sudanglo (Visa profilen) 14 februari 2012 11:07:28

The group that needs to be persuaded of the value of Esperanto is the native speakers of English.

Unfortunately the less that foreign languages are taught in England, America, USA etc the less the populace has a chance of appreciating the difficulty of learning foreign national languages to the point where social interaction with mono-lingual speakers of those foreign languages becomes possible.

Whilst Esperanto may be learnt from intellectual curiosity, or a sense of fair play, the real motivating factor has to be the awful waste of time, money and energy in learning a foreign language as a practical necessity.

As regards improving the image of Esperanto (making it more cool, trendy, hip) any music, literature, practical application etc has a part to play, but the Esperantists in their propaganda have failed to apply some basic principles of marketing, or political argument.

I see no determined effort, for example, to trade on the current misperceptions, concerning the language, making use of those that are inaccurate but favourable, or undermining those that are inaccurate but unfavourable.

To change the image of Esperanto, it is first necessary to establish statistically how Esperanto is commonly misperceived.

320kbps (Visa profilen) 14 februari 2012 12:48:00

lgg:Don't pretend that these who haven't learned it never heard that word and never read anything about it.
This is a prominent (and I presume the most important) factor in the problem of Esperanto's obscurity, though. There are still way too many people who don't know what Esperanto is.

But maybe it doesn't mean much. Many people who discover Esperanto end up discarding the idea of it pretty quickly.

erinja (Visa profilen) 14 februari 2012 13:06:59

The problem with Esperanto is that it requires effort, and people are flakes.

If a new shoe, CD, or movie becomes trendy, anyone with enough money can simply go out and buy it. You can't buy Esperanto; you have to make a commitment of time and effort, even though it's less time and effort than you'd spend on another language. People are flaky. Persuading someone to learn a new language, even a language much easier than whatever they may have studied in school, isn't an easy task.

It's hard enough to persuade Americans even of the idea that studying ANY foreign language is beneficial, let alone this particular language, which has few speakers and they probably have never heard of.

Anyway, as Kabe said, Esperantists have to learn Esperanto first. Anyone who wants to spread Esperanto should take a close look at his or her own language level. It does no good to go around advertising "the easy international language that everyone should learn" if you can barely say "saluton" yourself.

36lima (Visa profilen) 14 februari 2012 16:42:33

In addition to perhaps some theme restaurants or stores (even if it's just a line of clothing or knick-knacks that are sold in an existing chain of small stores - Claire's, World Market, etc), I think that it would be neat to teach technical courses in Esperanto in developing countries. Of course, that's probably unrealistic on multiple levels (proficiency of technical instructors in Esperanto and a lack of sufficient students who are capable enough in Esperanto to get value from the course - as compared to one delivered in the students native language).

I've had some involvement in delivering technical seminars and courses in countries where the native language is not English and it's always fun but the value to the non-English speakers is limited in my opinion since most of the presenters are either native English speakers or non-native, marginal English speakers who don't speak the local language. The result is usually a presentation that the majority of the audience cannot readily understand.

However, I agree with others who have posted in this topic thread that, unless the people who currently "speak" Esperanto can take the time to make sure they have a good level of proficiency at the language, it will be difficult to convince others who did not find the language on their own initiative to spend the time required.

I will readily admit that I have definitely not spent the time needed prior to this, however, I am making an effort to rectify my own personal shortcoming.

razlem (Visa profilen) 15 februari 2012 07:04:35

Someone should write a 4 chord song in Esperanto. rido.gif

A 're-branding' of Esperanto might help as well. Use the culture that has evolved up to this point instead of saying "culturally neutral", which carries the implication of no culture. This may be a bit biased from me, but you could also say "a language for the world" rather than "the international language". North Wind and the Sun.

pdenisowski (Visa profilen) 15 februari 2012 13:27:11

erinja:If a new shoe, CD, or movie becomes trendy, anyone with enough money can simply go out and buy it. You can't buy Esperanto; you have to make a commitment of time and effort
EXCELLENT observation.

bartlett22183 (Visa profilen) 15 februari 2012 18:24:34

One possibility is for those who know Esperanto, or who are sympathetic and are acquainted with someone who does, to include summaries or even whole translations for short writings, especially nonfiction.

An example: I live near Washington, DC, where is located the United States Library of Congress, the world's largest library (and therefore repository of knowledge). I was down there a few days ago and was looking at materials about the original Interlingua of the earlier twentieth century by Giuseppe Peano (which eventually became known as Latino sine Flexione (LsF), to distinguish it from the IALA's 1951 usurpation of the name for the language we now commonly know as Interlingua). Rather to my surprise, I found a short but serious book about LsF written in Esperanto and German! I do not know German, but I was able to read much of the E-o text. (I have to go back down and finish it.)

Here is an example that without an E-o translation (in parallel columns, in this instance), the discussion in the book would have been unavailable to me. Whether this sort of activity could be done more often I don't know, but if it would "take off," it might stimulate interest in Esperanto. (Unfortunately, this may be happening now with summaries and/or translations in English.)

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