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why learn Esperanto?

af elikon96, 31. okt. 2014

Meddelelser: 9

Sprog: English

elikon96 (Vise profilen) 31. okt. 2014 14.35.44

I know it's an easy language that doesn't take a lot of time to learn, but I still wonder if it's worth it to learn this language. the best reason I've heard so far is that it helps breaking the language barrier for those who still learnt a second language, but.. I already learned a second language. so... is it still worth it?

Fenris_kcf (Vise profilen) 31. okt. 2014 15.38.39

That depends on what you expect.

m_v (Vise profilen) 31. okt. 2014 15.48.22

When I started learning Esperanto six months ago, I asked myself the same question. How is it worth learning, if so few people speak it, how can it be any useful to me? Eventually, I downloaded this Esperanto course simply because I was curious how the language would look like. I’d have never imagined, though, at this point, that I'd stay motivated and learn the language completely because I had made some attempts before to learn Spanish which I gave up at some point because of my lack of motivation. And in contrast to learning Esperanto, for learning Spanish I had lots more reasons that could have motivated me: There are millions of people speaking Spanish, so it was way more likely than Esperanto to become useful at some point in my life.
So I was very surprised when I saw that I had successfully gone through this Esperanto course and had learnt the whole Esperanto grammar in less than one week, even though I’d had nothing to motivate me to learn it (besides my pure curiosity) or to tell me that it’d be worth it.
And here I am, speaking Esperanto quite well, but still not speaking Spanish almost at all. So my conclusion is that you actually don’t need a “why” to learn Esperanto, you just learn it and then – well – you’ve learnt it. I think that the choice between learning a natural language (like Spanish in my case) and Esperanto is like the choice between reading a 1000-page science book and watching a funny YouTube video: You know that the science book contains a lot of useful information and that it will help you to understand certain phenomena and the scientific concepts behind them, but reading this science book will be boring as hell. On the other hand you have the funny YouTube video which you know about that it’ll be hardly ever useful for you later on in your life having watched it, but it’s easy to watch the video and it doesn’t need any courage or motivation to do so. Same for a natural language and Esperanto: You know that learning a natural language is useful, but it takes a lot of time, so it’s hard to stay motivated, whereas you know that learning Esperanto won’t get you really far in your life or career or something like that, but it won’t take much time (because of its simplicity), so you’ll have learnt it soon.

robbkvasnak (Vise profilen) 31. okt. 2014 17.01.15

I learned Esperanto on a "fluke" in a way (I have never learnt anything but I have learned a lot). I was "thrown" into a dorm room with an Italian and a German - the boarding school language was French (I had had two HORRIBLE French classes in the US where we learned the passe historique!). So the Italian suggested that we all learn Esperanto until such time that I would be able to communicate in French. Really, within about three days we were able to communicate among each other - not in Zamenhofesquely correct Esperanto, but the basic ideas were very, very useful (-as, -is, -os, la, -o, -a, etc). I know that we used many "neologismojn" but our goal was pure communication, not grammatical correctness. And it worked for us for about three months, until I did, indeed, acquire enough French for primitive communication. I forgot all about Esperanto until I read a scorching rebuke in Die Frankfurter Rundschau (which is today written in German-[British]-English creole, real gobbldiegook). I started thinking about Esperanto and I realized that it was a really great medium to form thought and reasoning - trying to express oneself internationally - NO, absolutely NO national language really does that. What so many British hate about Esperanto, i.e. that it "has no culture of its own" (not true) is for me the greatest advantage. If I express something in Esperanto, I must truly observe the international community. I have had horrible arguments about this with L1 speakers of English, especially from South Africa, Australia and GB who think that you can use English without national, ethnic ties. I say, no. Iiiit no wooork, amigo! Jus' no work! Every national, ethnic language is intimately tied to custom and tradition, ethos, mores and diachronic formation. Even Latin. Now, of course, as the corpus of E original works appears, we are devoloping our own culture. But it is relatively free of national bias. Esperanto seems to me to be a fertile field and medium for philosophy and humanistic thought.

beurre_cru (Vise profilen) 4. nov. 2014 10.00.33

I am just a beginner. And the answer to your question if it's worth it can only be an indivudual one, it does not mean that the same things apply to you. But for me it is like this: by learning Esperanto, I get in contact with people I "usually" would not meet. I have email conversations with people from Aserbaidschan and from a caribbean island. So for me, yes it is totally worth it. Although I have to look up a lot of words to be able to keep up the conversation. So the use of esperanto drives the learning and vice versa.

I use it as a bridge to have conversations and as a bridge to other languages. I decided to brush up my second language and to learn a third (or fourth) one. I can use Esperanto to gather sources about this additional learning language. Even from People who do not speak my native language I can get helpful Information through Esperanto.

So, you already learned a second language and sure it is enriching you. How much more can another language do for you? The benefit will just multiply...

Try it, if you do not enjoy it at all, what have you lost? Learning Esperanto is free. You do not have to study it for years and years but will see quick success.

RiotNrrd (Vise profilen) 5. nov. 2014 02.36.02

I think what is attractive about Esperanto to me is that it opens up communication with a broader group of people that any single natural language could.

If you learn Italian, for example, you mainly will talk to Italians. German means talking to Germans. Thai means you get to talk to... you get the picture. Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with any of that. Italian/German/Thai/Whatever is a great language (and I've heard the people are really super nice) so if it floats your boat, seriously, go for it. But, whatever language you learn, no matter what that language is, it will open up communication with people from only a relatively small geographic area. "Small", of course, being relative to the entire globe. Even English/Spanish/Chinese/Whatever only covers so much ground, compared to *everything*.

If you learn Esperanto, whether instead of or in addition to some other language(s), you will end up talking with essentially all national backgrounds. You will talk to people from Italy, and Germany, and Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Kenya, Argentina...

To me, that's a positive. I like talking to people from a widely diverse set of places, and hearing how things can differ from one to another. Esperanto permits my doing that very well.

Plus, you can learn Esperanto pretty darn fast. If you have even a smidgen of talent for languages, it will be a piece of cake. I've known people who have learned it pretty well in literally a couple of weeks. It took me, personally, about six months to be able to write it decently, but I wasn't exactly a diligent student, either.

Anyway, all, some, or none of any of that may be anything you care about. Many people find it worthwhile, but whether you do too is ultimately up to your particular interests.

DuckFiasco (Vise profilen) 6. nov. 2014 19.26.04

What appeals to me is the camaraderie of all being foreign language learners. While it's of course possible to make mistakes in Esperanto, the fact that everyone who speaks it went through the same thing and have all had to consciously make this effort means the people I've talked to have been warm and engaging. There's no expectation of perfection, just people wanting to talk and share their little corner of the world with each other ridulo.gif And that's often the point of learning a language for pleasure, isn't it? To communicate.

In the same vein, when I speak French, I'm always aware that I speak in an unnatural way, but since so much of foreign languages are "it's just said that way" it's very hard to fully express oneself without adding unintended connotations or meanings to the message. I don't feel this same problem in Esperanto.

Esperanto is basically like taking a little linguistic vacation. Where I live, arguments of practicality don't really carry much weight. I only interact with non-English speakers in daily life maybe once a month. So any meaningful, frequent language exchange will be because I make the effort and seek it out.

kaŝperanto (Vise profilen) 13. nov. 2014 15.10.00

elikon96:I know it's an easy language that doesn't take a lot of time to learn, but I still wonder if it's worth it to learn this language. the best reason I've heard so far is that it helps breaking the language barrier for those who still learnt a second language, but.. I already learned a second language. so... is it still worth it?
The short answer is, unless you are going to be using a "real" foreign language in your job or day-to-day life, Esperanto is more "worth it" than a national language. Especially if English is your native language.

se (Vise profilen) 14. nov. 2014 03.18.09

elikon96:I know it's an easy language that doesn't take a lot of time to learn, but I still wonder if it's worth it to learn this language. the best reason I've heard so far is that it helps breaking the language barrier for those who still learnt a second language, but.. I already learned a second language. so... is it still worth it?
If you are intend to grow big in business, do take a look at the IKEF site. Perhaps, the future brians of your children.

No one know how big the esperanto speaking community as there is internet, there is esperanto users especially in social media like Facebook, twitter, whataspps, skype Wechat etc.

If put all the esperanto speakers in a place, it will be bigger than Island population or Singapore local borns.

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