At the moment, computers and the Internet are greatly aiding the spread of Esperanto.

The growth in the number of people with a basic knowledge of Esperanto in the last five years must surely be considerably greater than that in any five year period beteen 1950 and 1990.

However, what do you imagine will happen in the near future when a hand-held device becomes available which accepts an audio input in a foreign language and outputs to an earpiece (in a passable if not perfect rendering) a translation in another language?

sudanglo:At the moment, computers and the Internet are greatly aiding the spread of Esperanto.

The growth in the number of people with a basic knowledge of Esperanto in the last five years must surely be considerably greater than that in any five year period beteen 1950 and 1990.

However, what do you imagine will happen in the near future when a hand-held device becomes available which accepts an audio input in a foreign language and outputs to an earpiece (in a passable if not perfect rendering) a translation in another language?

I forgot the name of the iPhone app but it currently does (not so bad) translating of signs and other text you have in your camera's sights on the fly.

As for the audio version though, I doubt much will change. I'd expect instead that'd be detrimental to translators except in business etc where rudimentary computer based translation won't cut it.

Esperanto effectively is spoken by people who clearly don't care about translators, translation software or "everyone speaks English" when it comes to learning a language. People who use that as an excuse to avoid learning Esperanto probably are either very ideological about that or really just don't want to learn it and feel they have to come up with an excuse.

Big generalisation and stereotype I know but that's how I feel the general drift is and will be.

sudanglo:
However, what do you imagine will happen in the near future when a hand-held device becomes available which accepts an audio input in a foreign language and outputs to an earpiece (in a passable if not perfect rendering) a translation in another language?

My view is distorted because I live in the US, where interest in foreign languages is already close to zero. Many people who should know better think that Google Translate has already made foreign language study obsolete. Hand-held aural translation devices will only increase the prevalence of that view.

In the US, Esperanto is already perceived as a quaint, crankish, and ultimately somewhat silly idea--to the extent it is perceived at all. Reasonably reliable handheld translators will make Esperanto, as a solution to "the world language problem", seem laughable. At that time, it'll be Raŭmismo or nothing.

I sadly agree with T0dd, we have the same thing in the UK (Though perhaps to a lesser extent), most people would rather use the language by translating it on the spot rather than putting any actual effort into learning it.

I've heard it somewhere before and ceigered has bought it up again- only 2 types of people bother to learn esperanto at the moment; Ideologists and language fanatics and i really doubt either group will be put off by an increase in the view that 'It's not necessary' and the increased availability should help it spread amongst those 2 groups.

All-in-all I think that when the technology becomes widespread it will only help the spread of it amongst the 2 mentioned groups.

Darkmaster127:All-in-all I think that when the technology becomes widespread it will only help the spread of it amongst the 2 mentioned groups.

I agree - I can imagine language learners being some of the biggest users of these translation devices so they can learn it even easier. I honestly know very few people with no interest in languages who'd bother with translation software other than for a few giggles.

ceigered:I agree - I can imagine language learners being some of the biggest users of these translation devices so they can learn it even easier. I honestly know very few people with no interest in languages who'd bother with translation software other than for a few giggles.

I agree with you that this is the current situation. But when we come to the point where the translation software is improved enough to make a smooth, readable translation that makes sense, then I think use of translators will skyrocket. It won't be "Let me go to this website and translate this phrase". Things will go further toward automatic translation of foreign-language websites.

Google Chrome already offers this. You can keep it turned on or off (or have it prompt you and ask) but depending on your settings, when you browse to a foreign-language website, it will automatically translate it into your language of choice. Of course the translations are still strange-sounding and sometimes confusing. But I can imagine that in the future, people will have no problem reading foreign blogs and linking to them, because everyone will have built in automatic translation capability.

I do wonder, though. My uncle, a professional software developer who spends a lot of time online, recently stated to me that "most of the internet is in English". The actual number is maybe around 50%. But if you can only read English, then you go to English websites. These English websites link to other English websites. You only do Google searches with English search terms. You are living in a closed "English-only" ecosystem of the web, and it's easy to forget that there's a wide foreign-language internet out there, that you are simply not accessing. So for people like my uncle, even with automatic translation, I wonder what it would take to get him reading foreign-language sites. I suspect that the way to do it would be to have Google provide translated websites among the search results. Therefore, I search for "cats", and Google searches not only for the English word "cats", but also for foreign language sites with the foreign-language equivalent of "cats".

Darkmaster127:I sadly agree with T0dd, we have the same thing in the UK (Though perhaps to a lesser extent), most people would rather use the language by translating it on the spot rather than putting any actual effort into learning it.

I recently did a piece of work translating a German medical document. I put it in Google Translate then made corrections to the grammar + used google to lookup medical words/expressions.

The author didn't know I don't speak any German but tipped me extra for the good work (after reading it). I think I did as good as any translator.

If that's not obseleting translators, then I don't know what is.

erinja:I do wonder, though. My uncle, a professional software developer who spends a lot of time online, recently stated to me that "most of the internet is in English". The actual number is maybe around 50%. But if you can only read English, then you go to English websites. These English websites link to other English websites. You only do Google searches with English search terms. You are living in a closed "English-only" ecosystem of the web, and it's easy to forget that there's a wide foreign-language internet out there, that you are simply not accessing. So for people like my uncle, even with automatic translation, I wonder what it would take to get him reading foreign-language sites. I suspect that the way to do it would be to have Google provide translated websites among the search results. Therefore, I search for "cats", and Google searches not only for the English word "cats", but also for foreign language sites with the foreign-language equivalent of "cats".

I think much about this and how it's a shame that we're duplicating so much knowledge/missing out on other things. You only see other English on the major sites and have to wonder where everybody goes (i.e to their own sites).

There's also the effect that Anglophile culture is producing the highest quality work worldwide. It's harsh to say, but the truth. Taking one example- Free Software (Linux, Wikipedia, Firefox, ...) is a product of the anglophile + English speaking Europe and also popular in Brazil, Iran, Russia and Argentina.

I wonder... Where are all the supposedly advanced Indians, Chinese + others? They use the software but you never see any of them participating in development. If it was the language barrier that wouldn't explain the prevalence of Russians, Iranians and Brazilians. Maybe their culture doesn't value free thinking and they are more likely to be straight jacketed into rigid workplaces rather than creative enterprises?

idk, but Esperanto could give me some insight if it was more widely used. Instead there's this disconnect.

It will be a sad day when it's Raŭmismo or nothing. I think, it wouldn't take long in those circumstances for Esperanto to pretty much die out.

There would be no feeling that the language has to be ready to operate in all fields - to be fit for purpose, ready to play its role when political circumstances change.

Raŭmismo as a philosopy just doesn't provide the motivation to dedicate ones life to Esperanto. And in our history it's been those individuals who have dedicated their lives to the language who have advanced Esperanto to where it is today. There would be no PIV or PAG without individuals like Waringhien. Raŭmismo wouldn't have created a site like Lernu.

Of course, we won't need Esperanto in the future when we talk to aliens (eksterteranoj) since it's clear from all the films I have watched that they already have a very idiomatic command of English.

Oh, I really like that idea Erinja, that Google should return results not only for cats, but also chats, katzen, katoj and so on.

Also, perhaps when Automatic Translation does the job, fewer people will feel the need to learn English, or any foreign language.

Honestly I think that Raŭmismo is the only reason why Esperanto still exists today.

Most people don't think of it in exactly these terms. And most people don't necessarily consider themselves to be raŭmistoj, and they don't necessarily even know what Raŭmismo is.

...but if you learned Esperanto only for ideological reasons, only because of the Fina Venko, then you must be very devoted to the cause, and extremely patient and accepting of our continual lack of a Fina Venko. You would have to be a real die-hard true believer to keep on with Esperanto in the absence of any kind of culture, events, activities, etc. Most people aren't such true believers, and belief in the idea alone isn't enough to keep them involved in Esperanto. Maybe someone comes to Esperanto because of the ideology, but I think they stay with it because of the culture. Esperanto has to be self-sustaining based on its own merits and culture, not only based on the idea of an international auxiliary language.

Plus, I think there are limits to the power of translators. Unless we have a Star Trek-style universal translator or a Babelfish that we put in our ears, I doubt that anyone wants fumble for their translation module in the middle of the night, in order to ask their spouse if they're awake.