horsto:But why should anybody avoid it wherever possible?

Because passive sentences are harder to parse for the brain than active oni sentences.

Of course oni can't always replace the passive voice, but in many cases it can.

It's pretty disappointing that the passive voice and complex tenses are discouraged, because I think how they're set up is pretty genius. But, I have been spoiled by English, and I assume not everyone is used to being dependent upon them in other languages.

It's not so much that it's discouraged, Winnipegis. It's not that anyone is trying to prevent you from using any passive forms, or prevent you from expressing certain verb tenses. It's that it's not necessary to use these forms to give the meaning that you are aiming for, and in many (most?) cases, the sentence that is not using those forms is more elegant and easier to understand than the one that uses them.

We do use those tenses, so it's not that we actively avoid it. It's that we have so many other ways to express ourselves, in ways that aren't possible in English, that we tend to use those other ways, rather than making a lot of use of passive voice and complex tenses.

Once you learn Esperanto well enough to start reading our literature, you'll see. You will find works of literature that don't make even a single use of a complex tense - and yet, as you read it, it's absolutely clear in your mind, how this tense would be written in English. The tense is clear through the surrounding words, and it would even be heavy-handed to spoil it by using a lot of cumbersome verb forms expressing complex tenses. You will be absolutely amazed at what can be accomplished only through the simple tenses, word order, and prepositions (as necessary).

It's a writing style that is elegant in its simplicity. And while you may not realize it now, Esperanto's simplified tense system is actually making things easier for you as a learner. No language does tenses in exactly the same way as another.

I see from your profile that you speak Russian, so I'm sure you understand this. Because of Esperanto's simple use of tenses, you don't have to memorize a lot of complicated rules for when to use which tense. This helps the learner immensely, and it doesn't hamper us in writing fine literature.

Moreover, the complex tenses DO exist - so when they are truly needed, we can put them into service. But we don't overdo it; it just isn't necessary, 99% of the time.

darkweasel:

horsto:But why should anybody avoid it wherever possible?

Because passive sentences are harder to parse for the brain than active oni sentences.

Would you please tell us who found that out, or is this only your personal opinion?
And speaking about things that "are harder to parse for the brain": Esperanto allows to choose the order of subject, predicate and object in sentences. Of course it's easier "to parse for the brain" if we always use the same order. Would you also recommend this to us?

I personally believe that if everyone used the same word order it'd make things easier after everyone had gotten their heads around it. But it's not really necessary I guess. I think it'd ultimately all depend on the situation, If you're talking to a child, you wouldn't use upside-down back-to-front word order with every participle possible, if you're writing a scientific report you'll probably want to use participles or whatnot quite freely to make sure things are looking precise and concise, and if you're a poet you'll probably want to do all sorts of crazy things

http://www.4shared.com/dir/_kR8mfdt/sharing.html
Here is a link with lots of resources for Esperanto including a folder for the workbook exercises from Pasporto al la Tuta Mondo. Scribd used to have the transcripts for the program but they're not there anymore, unfortunately. Enjoy!

horsto:

darkweasel:

horsto:But why should anybody avoid it wherever possible?

Because passive sentences are harder to parse for the brain than active oni sentences.

Would you please tell us who found that out, or is this only your personal opinion?
And speaking about things that "are harder to parse for the brain": Esperanto allows to choose the order of subject, predicate and object in sentences. Of course it's easier "to parse for the brain" if we always use the same order. Would you also recommend this to us?

Okay, let's test it ourselves, what sentence do you need more time for to read and understand?
La katon mordas la hundo.
La kato estas mordata de la hundo.

Now if you want to be understood easily, what wording do you choose?

Even in national languages I wouldn't recommend overusing the passive - see for example the online Passive Voice Guide. Esperanto shouldn't need it at all.

The second sentence is a lot more flexible though, you have the ability to just leave out the dog part if you want. You can't say "la katon mordas" after all.

While this is more based on actual spoken language (where one might say "The cat's being bitten!" "By what?!" "By the dog! By the dog! Stop it before it hurts my cat!"), depending on how the writing is flowing, what the tone is, et cetera, one might want that added flexibility in written language too.

And the passive voice seems pretty common in languages across the world anyway.

darkweasel:
La katon mordas la hundo.
La kato estas mordata de la hundo.

Now if you want to be understood easily, what wording do you choose?

I still can't understand or can't say rapidly the first sentence.

From my native language, i didn't get the neuron to put the object before the subject !

Frankouche:

darkweasel:
La katon mordas la hundo.
La kato estas mordata de la hundo.

Now if you want to be understood easily, what wording do you choose?

I still can't understand or can't say rapidly the first sentence.

From my native language, i didn't get the neuron to put the object before the subject !

And I suffer of a upper-lowercase sensibilty

Off-topic: Btw, I doubt that a cat bites a dog in a figth. Cats are small tigers. The cat will accomplish dog's respect with a double-claw-hit at the dogs nose. With a hurt nose a dog is lost.