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I will learn Esperanto but only if...

od Pupeno, 18. novembra 2008

Príspevky: 16

Jazyk: English

Pupeno (Zobraziť profil) 18. novembra 2008 20:40:35

How many people would you like to promise you that they will learn Esperanto to learn it?
[LISTO]
1,000?
10,000?
100,000?
1,000,000?
20,000,000?[/list]pick your number (click on the link) and make your promise. Don't forget to promise up (if you promise for 1,000, also promise for 10,000).

Rogir (Zobraziť profil) 18. novembra 2008 23:00:20

Now this may be a annoying response, but don't you think this is completely the wrong place to post this? Don't you think that anyone who comes here is already trying to learn esperanto?

Pupeno (Zobraziť profil) 19. novembra 2008 8:53:16

Maybe, maybe not, maybe they are just checking it out. The truth is those pledges are not formulated correctly. People that don't learn Esperanto don't really care about how many people will learn it, they only care about how many people speak it or will speak it. The pledge should read "I will learn Esperanto but only if N people learn it or speak it already", so people that already speak it should subscribe as well, people planning to do it should do it as well.

andogigi (Zobraziť profil) 19. novembra 2008 12:28:29

Pupeno:Maybe, maybe not, maybe they are just checking it out. The truth is those pledges are not formulated correctly. People that don't learn Esperanto don't really care about how many people will learn it, they only care about how many people speak it or will speak it. The pledge should read "I will learn Esperanto but only if N people learn it or speak it already", so people that already speak it should subscribe as well, people planning to do it should do it as well.
I remember the day I met some British Esperantists who introduced me to the language. My viewpoint at the time was that I agreed with the principles of the movement, but didn't see the point of learning a language which such a few number of people spoke.

Their responding argument was two-fold:
1) We cannot control what other people do. We are only in control of what *we* do.
2) If everyone felt this way, the human race would never be able to accomplish any goal since noone would be willing to take the first step.

Obviously, this made a great deal of sense to me.

Pupeno (Zobraziť profil) 19. novembra 2008 13:35:27

Indeed. And think of myself as a first-stepper on many ways, this campaign is for the rest, to avoid them having an excuse; if numbers is the only excuse, then sign up! That's the idea.

Tomo S. Vulpo (Zobraziť profil) 19. novembra 2008 14:20:55

You know, this entire "One should not learn Esperanto because only a few people speak it" argument just baffles me because it is so obviously circular reasoning:

A: I say, noone should learn Esperanto! It is not worth being learned!
B: Why not?
A: Too few people speak it!
B: Shouldn't we do something about it by encouraging people to learn it, then?
A: No! Noone should learn it! It is not worth being learned!

Wash, rinse, repeat!

Miland (Zobraziť profil) 19. novembra 2008 15:26:52

To any surfers checking this out: the decision to learn any language is one that only you can make. If you wish to look further, Esperantists will usually be happy to help you. If not - go in peace.

Tomo S. Vulpo (Zobraziť profil) 19. novembra 2008 19:10:41

Now, this is nice, Miland, but unfortunaly, there are a lot of smegheads out there who seem to have nothing better to do than talking people out of learning Esperanto, even if they have to lie to do so.

erinja (Zobraziť profil) 19. novembra 2008 21:10:20

Tomo S. Vulpo:Now, this is nice, Miland, but unfortunaly, there are a lot of smegheads out there who seem to have nothing better to do than talking people out of learning Esperanto, even if they have to lie to do so.
I have always found this phenomenon to be so interesting. Some people are presumptuous enough to judge the way that other people spend your free time, and this seems so strange to me. If someone says they like to ski, and you personally think skiing is boring, would you try to talk them out of their skiing hobby? And if so, why does it matter to you, and what business is it of yours?

Seriously, if someone wants to go study a language spoken in a single village in Borneo, that is considered exotic and interesting, but if someone wants to study Esperanto, it is considered a waste of time. Something is wrong here.

Miland (Zobraziť profil) 19. novembra 2008 21:26:06

Actually, I haven't encountered such hostility. On the contrary, in the place where I work, I remember the wife of a member of staff saying once that she was 'impressed' that I was interested in Esperanto!

People know it's my hobby, and I have passed on information just occasionally if I felt that someone might be interested, but maybe most people aren't sufficiently interested for it to bother them one way or the other.

Nahor