There are hundreds, if not thousands of invented languages in the world, in almost every conceivable style. Some were made for fun and some were made with grandiose hopes of changing the world. Yet 99% were never learned by anyone except the creator (and often not even them). Out of this jungle of competing languages, Esperanto towers above all others. Only a handful of invented languages have communities, yet even these are only about the size of a local Esperanto club. Only Esperanto has made the jump to active associations all over the world, congresses with thousands of participants, a vast library of books, songs, magazines, blogs, youtubers etc.

But why Esperanto? What’s so special about it that allowed it to succeed instead of others?

Here is an interesting article that tries to explain the success of Esperanto. What are your thoughts? Do you agree with the reasons given or do you have an alternative explanation? What did Esperanto do that all the conlangs didn't?

Why is Esperanto the most successful invented language?

rapn21:

There are hundreds, if not thousands of invented languages in the world, in almost every conceivable style. Some were made for fun and some were made with grandiose hopes of changing the world. Yet 99% were never learned by anyone except the creator (and often not even them). Out of this jungle of competing languages, Esperanto towers above all others. Only a handful of invented languages have communities, yet even these are only about the size of a local Esperanto club. Only Esperanto has made the jump to active associations all over the world, congresses with thousands of participants, a vast library of books, songs, magazines, blogs, youtubers etc.

But why Esperanto? What’s so special about it that allowed it to succeed instead of others?

Here is an interesting article that tries to explain the success of Esperanto. What are your thoughts? Do you agree with the reasons given or do you have an alternative explanation? What did Esperanto do that all the conlangs didn't?

Why is Esperanto the most successful invented language?

"Sir, we're looking for questions, not essays." But anyway, enough jokes in admiration of Elon Musk's public speaking style, seriously the article has ads, so I didn't read it. Here's an ad-free article: https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historio_de_Esperant...

I think Esperanto succeded because Zamenhoff used a hands-off, no-changes strategy that Lojban also uses.

rapn21:Do you agree with the reasons given or do you have an alternative explanation? What did Esperanto do that all the conlangs didn't?

Hey, hey, I agree.

Because Zamenhof had in mind the language community, not just the language. Unfortunately, he lacked the political and economic tools to cope with the linguistic policies of the big countries.

Grown:the article has ads, so I didn't read it.

There's only a single ad and it's at the end of the article. You would have to read the whole article before you would find the ad, so how is that a reason not to read the article?

Altebrilas:Because Zamenhof had in mind the language community, not just the language.

I completely agree, I think this was a crucial feature that most other language creators didn't consider.

rapn21:

Grown:the article has ads, so I didn't read it.

There's only a single ad and it's at the end of the article. You would have to read the whole article before you would find the ad, so how is that a reason not to read the article?

Loaded question; question with explicit contested premise. I usually check articles for ads before reading.

Grown:Loaded question; question with explicit contested premise. I usually check articles for ads before reading.

That's not a loaded question nor is its premise contested. Do you understand the terms that you use or are you just trying to look intelligent?

Several years ago I wrote an essay, "Thoughts on IAL Success" (in English). This is a personal reflection, not a scholarly study. It is not about Esperanto in and of itself, but it does use E-o as a sort of paradigm of inquiry, as I put it. Here or here if you have a problem with the tilde character