spreecamper:

robbkvasnak:Expressions like "what are you talking about" are indeed colloquial but rather rude. That is one of the problems of using an ethnic language in international communication. It is hard for the non-native speaker to hit just the right chord when using colloquialisms. I understand that your first language is not English and I excuse you for the rude tone, though I must add that upon first reading it I was a little hurt.

Okay. I'm sorry about. But thats the blunt way of communication in Germany where I did grow up. It was not my intention to hurt you.

One more reason to use Esperanto. In Esperanto my text is rude when I intend to be rude, not by accident.

spreecamper:Okay. I'm sorry about. But thats the blunt way of communication in Germany where I did grow up. It was not my intention to hurt you.

As a native speaker of US English (presumably like robbkvasnak, correct me if I'm wrong), I see "what are you talking about?" as, at most, mildly confrontational in context. I wouldn't be offended.

Of course the degree of rudeness (and the ilk) also depends on context. It is a bit like the German expression: Was fällt dir ein? I think that emoticons were invented for that reason. It's a question of when, where and how it is used. But that is a good reason to avoid colloquialisms if you haven't used the language to a great extent in the culture to which it belongs. And, yes, I mostly agree that Esperanto helps us avoid some of that.
And then there is the joke about the stewardess on Lufthansa who says: "You will sit down and enjoy the flight!" When Americans tell it the way it sounds to them, it can sound pretty bad. (Whereas, "setzen Sie Sich und genießen Sie den Flug" is very polite in German.) That horrible TV series "Hogan's Heroes" used a lot of that. Growing up as a German American (bilingual) it really grated my nerves. But friends who chat online tell me that Germans and Dutch are very arrogant. I try to explain to them that when people write using their own language's pragmatics it can lead to misunderstandings.
Where we live, many people speak Spanish at home. When they speak English they forget to use the word 'please' and so some Americans get pretty offended. But that is because in Spanish you use verb forms to be polite and using 'por favor' too much can sound overbearing, or at least that is how it was explained to me.
I suspect that Ido pragmatics are a bit like Esperanto's but that Interlingua/Interlingue might rely on the pragmatics of French and Spanish speaking cultures - though, since I speak neither Ido nor Iinterlingua/e I really don't know.

Uff! Just got done doing the dishes - which gave me time to think! Imagine that someone would use Esperanto as a dialect in a literary work - we would be all delighted and mention it to everyone online. Sooooo - wouldn't using Ido as a dialect be sort of the same thing? Idists - is that what you call them - would be ecstatic! And Interlinguists even more so - me thinks. Someone wrote how excited they were that a character in Startrek seems to have used Esperanto for a few sentences.
And if I WERE to use Ido as a dialect, that would mean that I would have to study it a bit - so the Idists should actually LIKE that, no? It's no put-down of Ido at all. It is more like finding something artsy in it, something romantic. Like using Amer'can and Canadian when talking with Canadians:
Canadian: Nice see'in ya, heh!
Amer'can: Same here.
Canadian: How were your holidays, heh?
Amer'can: Don' remember - had too much egg nog to keep a clear head!
Canadian: So you yanks drink egg nog in the summer, heh?
Amer'can: Nope, you asked about the holidays.
Canadian: A-boot the holidays, heh? Yeah, well, the holidays, heh, you know? Those 5 days in July that they give you off down there, heh!
Amer'can: Ah, my vacation!
Canadian: So surprised, heh? You had to vacate, heh! I'll get you a laxative, heh!
Amer'can: Thanks, you missed the point.
Canadian: Well, don't forget to clean up the washroom, heh!
Amer'can scratches head thinking of why the Canadian would mention the laundry. (German or Esperanto translation upon demand - hehe!)

robbkvasnak:
And if I WERE to use Ido as a dialect, that would mean that I would have to study it a bit - so the Idists should actually LIKE that, no? It's no put-down of Ido at all. It is more like finding something artsy in it, something romantic. Like using Amer'can and Canadian when talking with Canadians:
Canadian: Nice see'in ya, heh!
Amer'can: Same here.
Canadian: How were your holidays, heh?
Amer'can: Don' remember - had too much egg nog to keep a clear head!
Canadian: So you yanks drink egg nog in the summer, heh?
Amer'can: Nope, you asked about the holidays.
Canadian: A-boot the holidays, heh? Yeah, well, the holidays, heh, you know? Those 5 days in July that they give you off down there, heh!
Amer'can: Ah, my vacation!
Canadian: So surprised, heh? You had to vacate, heh! I'll get you a laxative, heh!
Amer'can: Thanks, you missed the point.
Canadian: Well, don't forget to clean up the washroom, heh!
Amer'can scratches head thinking of why the Canadian would mention the laundry. (German or Esperanto translation upon demand - hehe!)

If that's the kind of research you would do for Ido, I'm not sure your book will be very popular with Ido-ists(?). I realize you're deliberately exaggerating, but for future reference, it's spelled "eh?"

Reading last posts personal question came up why I should relate only with one group or community or what ever happening of aliens i.e. community of Esperanto, Interlingua, Ido, LdP, etc.? I didn't find reasonable answer to that. I also dislike that 'smarty Yankee versus Canadian Redneck' -amusement. Especially with that I can't see any relation to Esperanto matters which Lernu.net is intended to serve. But must be something deeper. Some Canadian friends of mine put a lot energy into to explain that North-americans could be different completely in mentality and that Canadians are now way U.S.-americans. Anyway. Let pull out 'the oil' from the fire.
Friendly/ Amike,

Kirilo81:

Ferdinand Cesarano:In addition, well-read people have a tremendous familiarity with Romance/Latin vocabulary. So, even those English-speakers who took German at school should have very little trouble with an Interlingua text.

In my point of view Interlingua could be interesting for the active use, while for passive understanding it is useful only for those people who don't need it.

In my opinion, It depends on your native tongue to rather Interlingua is easily understandable or not if you are an American with no knowledge of Any Romance language you'll have to study interlingua to understand it! I speak French and am familiar with Spanish I can't yet speak Interlingua but, have read and listened to it and started studying it and understand both spoken and writen forms to speak it would take very little effort less than Esperanto I now understand Esperanto but, it took effort! I looked into Ido it resembles broken Esperanto and I in no way understand it yet except a word or two however, I think more about studying Interlingoua if I ever study Ido it will be for fun. I think for my self Interlingua would be easier than even Esperanto but, I started esperanto and evev though my esperanto sucks it will not stop my effort. Anytime one learns a new language it takes time to learn well! As for Ido and Interlingua they are very well stuctured and so, is esperanto any invented language will have flaws even some natural languages do because dirty things have been put in them. But for Idist I'm sorry I think learning Spanish first before Ido works better because it appears to be not only broken Esperanto but, broken spanish Interlingua is better to learn if you want help mastering any Romance language or learn a Romance language first as I did and either Esperanto, Ido, or Interlingua will help you master it better. Russians and Germans excetra as well as English Speakers would be better to use Esperanto if you want to learn a non romance language as well as a Romance if you have no prior language experience. I started with French and it's somewhat better than my Esperanto or Spanish and a lot better than my Greek but, I had an Advantage French was one of the three official languages of where I grew up so, naturally it's going to be better since I studied it first. And with any language it takes practice so, whatever one you want to study just jump in and get started and don't let the words its a hard or easy language sway you if you want to learn it! If you start with a hard one like Hungarian or Russian just do your best and don't give up even if your skills suck! If I let that stop me I wouldn't have mastered any language as I have done!

pdenisowski:There is a free 15 lesson online course with audio at the UMI website :

http://www.interlingua.com/an/curso

They have native language versions in English, Danish, Spanish, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese and Turkish.

Note too that a searchable version of the Interlingua-English dictionary is available at the UMI site :

http://www.interlingua.com/ied/cerca

Amike,

Paul

I see that UMI offers an online 15 lesson course in Interlingua that claims to give you a 750 word vocabulary. And your webpage offers an additional 20 lesson course for beginners. I have no way of knowing how much these two courses duplicate one another. Interlingua also claims to have a 27000 word dictionary available. So, for the sake of argument, lets say that I study these two courses, join UMI and subscribe to the magazine Panorama. What more does Interlingua offer for the time and effort that I have expended? Does UMI offer a book service like Esperanto-USA (ELNA) does, and if so, are there many books available? Frankly, Interlingua looks interesting. But undertaking a task such as learning it is going to demand a lot of time and effort. I ask this sincerely -- I'm not trying to back you into a corner. (I'm the type of person that wants to test the temperature of the water with one toe before I jump in with both feet.) Also, I like your homepage -- especially the link on Ham radio. I'm an inactive Extra but I keep my license up to date. If you're interested, I'll give you my call sign but I'd rather do so by separate message rather than on the forum for privacy reasons. Thanks.

Kirilo81:But as I've never learnt a Romance language for me Interlingua is in no way easier to understand than any other Romance planned or ethnic language (I have to read French and Italian articles at work), so depending of the text 70-90%.
In my point of view Interlingua could be interesting for the active use, while for passive understanding it is useful only for those people who don't need it.

I don't understand the intention of that phrase: 'while for passive understanding it is useful only for those people who don't need it.'

For sure someones who is proficient with Esperanto language easely can grasp Interlingua. I don't know if it will work reverse because I went former way from Esperanto to Interlingua.

apok2:I see that UMI offers an online 15 lesson course in Interlingua that claims to give you a 750 word vocabulary. And your webpage offers an additional 20 lesson course for beginners.

There excists handy monolingual dictionary. Its book name makes it clear how much vocabulary will be nesessary to use Interlingua (2,500). Same like Amazon, Lulu also offers feature 'Look into". Layout of that dictionary is very modern. I say that because most Interlingua learning material may look somewhat archaic '60-ies style' which of course doesn't say something about its usefulness and teaching quality.

Interlingua - dictionario basic (2,500 parolas)

apok2:I have no way of knowing how much these two courses duplicate one another. Interlingua also claims to have a 27000 word dictionary available. So, for the sake of argument, lets say that I study these two courses, join UMI and subscribe to the magazine Panorama. What more does Interlingua offer for the time and effort that I have expended?

First, someones could cross-check its motivation of Esperanto language in 'competition' to Interlingua. Second, it can serve like appetizer either to choose between several Romanic languages and follow-up with the choosen candidat or to prove overall if someones feels comfortable with Romanic language culture .

apok2:Does UMI offer a book service like Esperanto-USA (ELNA) does, and if so, are there many books available?

Yes. How I already wrote before: Servicio de Libros UMI

apok2:Frankly, Interlingua looks interesting. But undertaking a task such as learning it is going to demand a lot of time and effort. I ask this sincerely -- I'm not trying to back you into a corner.

I see Interlingua more excotic than Esperanto which has lot of German root words included. Mainly thats why I'm intested to learn Interlingua which also grants me very useful side effect to improve right word order intuition in English means mainly to stop using German habit of nested sentences within English language apply.