bartlett22183:
Like E-o, (IALA) Interlingua started out in written form. However, people actually do speak it. I have 47 audio files of podcasts of "Radio Interlingua" produced in Europe, with people actually speaking the language. On the other hand, for me personally (please note), Esperanto is just a written code, as I have never spoken it and have heard very little of it spoken. (And that little I could scarcely comprehend, unlike written texts.)

I found some videos on the Interlingua website where they are speaking it as well. Have you studied the language? Or do you know another Romance language? I'm wondering how comprehensible spoken Interlingua is to someone who only knows Spanish, French, Portuguese, etc.

I think that verbal communication always comes last in the process of mastering a language. I can read and write Spanish much better than I can speak it or decipher it in speech. The same will no doubt be true for me with Esperanto.

I have actually wondered quite a bit about the average speaking ability of Esperantists who have made it past the basic stages of learning the language. At World Congresses can most everyone speak fairly fluidly or is it a situation where you have a small number of advanced speakers who speak the language pretty well and everyone else is communicating with awkward, halting sentences? I'm curious about that.

That's an interesting question SPX about the proportion of fluent speakers at Esperanto congresses. I doubt that any one has any statistics on that.

The thing is that for almost all Esperanto congresses and get-togethers there is no restriction on language level at the time of enrolment. My impression is that you always get a mix and sometimes in the pre-congress bumpf beginners are specifically encouraged to attend.

It's open-door and the more the merrier, regardless of the stage you have reached.

Also in the wider world outside the congress environment, one can only guess at the proportion of fluent speakers among all Esperantists.

I can tell you this, that I once went to a Esperanto-Kunveno in Northern France (say 150 people) and it was extremely frustrating as I had only gone wanting to practice my French, and even the beginner Esperantists there I could not persuade to chat with me in French, all of them wanting to stick to Esperanto. Mi laŭte plendis pri la manko de krokodiloj.

sudanglo:I can tell you this, that I once went to a Esperanto-Kunveno in Northern France (say 150 people) and it was extremely frustrating as I had only gone wanting to practice my French, and even the beginner Esperantists there I could not persuade to chat with me in French, all of them wanting to stick to Esperanto. Mi laŭte plendis pri la manko de krokodiloj.

That's just strange, why would you go to a Esperanto meeting in another country to speak their national language? Why not just go for a walk down to their local supermarket ect... Of course people at a Esperanto meeting are going to want to speak Esperanto.

Here in Sydney the Esperanto groups have about 50% eternal beginners and 50% high level to fluent speakers. Our most active members however are actually the eternal beginners.

Forigite

sudanglo:
The thing is that for almost all Esperanto congresses and get-togethers there is no restriction on language level at the time of enrolment. My impression is that you always get a mix and sometimes in the pre-congress bumpf beginners are specifically encouraged to attend.

It's open-door and the more the merrier, regardless of the stage you have reached.

I'm seriously thinking of going to Iceland next year. That gives me about 12 months to hopefully get up to speed to where I can understand what is being said and hold conversations with people.

sudanglo:I can tell you this, that I once went to a Esperanto-Kunveno in Northern France (say 150 people) and it was extremely frustrating as I had only gone wanting to practice my French, and even the beginner Esperantists there I could not persuade to chat with me in French, all of them wanting to stick to Esperanto.

Seems like a peculiar decision to go to an Esperanto convention to practice speaking French.

sudanglo:Mi laŭte plendis pri la manko de krokodiloj.

You loudly complained about the lack of . . . crocodiles?

Forigite

Hyperboreus:
Well, confront me with a more complex one and I will try to translate it to Esperanto without cheating (and without looking at an Interlingua grammar or wordbook first). I would love to do so.

Hmm. . . Maybe try picking something from here:

http://www.interlingua.com/e-libros

Try reading a few pages and let me know how it goes. I'm pretty curious to know.

Hyperboreus:Written French is difficult, spoken French unintelligible (but I am told that this also holds when you have studied French).

Yes, I have heard that French is actually pretty different from Spanish both in terms of grammar and vocabulary.

Hyperboreus:Written Italian is very understandable, spoken Italian depends from speaker to speaker.

In my own experience I can say that, having studied a little Spanish, Italian doesn't look as foreign to me as French does and I've been able to decipher basic sentences fairly well.

Hyperboreus:Maybe Antigua was the wrong town to go to learn Spanish. I have the impression that in Antigua you see more gringos than Guatemalans. Same thing in Panajachel and Tikal. Actually Guatemalans go there to learn English... You should have tried the capital city or one of the smaller municipalities: there is no better language teacher than an environment in which NO-ONE speaks your language. And yes, maybe "interesting" could describe Guatemala.

Antigua is actually a really cool place and I don't regret choosing it. It's old and has a lot of interesting history behind it, has a lot of amenities that 1st worlders like myself are used to, the people are nice and it's also pretty safe.

The problem with the Spanish school is that the teachers didn't really speak English. Now, I can see why some people may interpret that as a good thing. But when you're a pretty basic student I think it's important to be able to ask complex grammatical questions and requests for clarification in your native language.

I signed up for a six week course. The first two weeks were pretty okay. But after that I just got frustrated and started skipping more and more classes until eventually my focus had totally shifted to just being a tourist and enjoying the city. I met a Danish traveler while I was down there and we had a lot of fun hiking up volcanoes, getting lost coming down those volcanoes, drinking beer and just generally chilling.

I would like to go back and give it another shot at one of the language schools, but I would have to insist that my teacher speak good English.

Evildela:
Here in Sydney the Esperanto groups have about 50% eternal beginners and 50% high level to fluent speakers. Our most active members however are actually the eternal beginners.

You're lucky to have an Esperanto club.

I've only found one listed in my city and the e-mail address that is associated with it is not active. So as far as I can tell we don't have one.

SPX:You loudly complained about the lack of . . . crocodiles?

This is one of the few Esperanto idioms. "Krokodiloj" are people who speak a language other than Esperanto during an event where only Esperanto is supposed to be spoken.

"Large mouths, small brains" is, I believe, the intended image. Not really terribly complimentary, although generally meant lightheartedly.

SPX:
I think that verbal communication always comes last in the process of mastering a language. I can read and write Spanish much better than I can speak it or decipher it in speech. The same will no doubt be true for me with Esperanto.

I'd largely agree with that, but I think it's not simply verbal communication that appears last (halting or limited communication is in evidence throughout learning), but rather the confident ability to build creative sentences. This is also quite difficult when writing in a foreign language, because it is the same problem, just at a different pace which allows more time to compose.

As far as I can tell it is actually listening (and thus understanding) that is the bigger barrier for fluent communication because few people speak in a standardised way. Surely anyone could reply, at whatever level they can manage, if they can understand the person they are talking to?