Esperanto General

Anyone /esperanto/ here? Learners/speakers etc. Looking for someone to chat with, to learn about Esperanto, or to just share resources, here's the place. Resources: >Lernu (https://lernu.net/en) - Free, probably most widely used Esperanto course >DuoLingo (https://www.duolingo.com/) - Free, has a pretty good Esperanto course, feels somewhat like a game >Kurso De Esperanto (http://kurso.com.br/) - Free, program. Haven't used much myself but seems pretty good so far >Clozemaster (https://www.clozemaster.com/languages/learn-esperanto-from-english) - Free, flashcard learning

>>8767 Forgot: What is Esperanto? Esperanto is one of the most popular constructed languages intended to be used as an universal second-language. It's much easier to learn than other languages as there's much less memorization and all the rules are followed almost invariably. Why learn Esperanto? >It's much easier to learn than most other languages >Learning it makes other languages easier to learn >Can familiarize you with parts of speech >It's niche but speakers can be found all over the world >Free couchsurfing for Esperantists: http://pasportaservo.org/

>orwell OP pic >newspeak language that has no roots in any nation or culture Wowie, irony writting itself

>>8772 Clearly you have no idea what the fuarrrk 1984 is about lmao. >To OP Would Esperanto make learning Romance languages easier for an English speaker? >Learning it makes other languages easier to learn What does this actually mean?

>>8772 Not to derail the topic of the thread, but the purpose of Newspeak was to limit the expressive abilities of language to create more complacent citizens. Esperanto, on the other hand, is meant to bring people from all around the world together so that they can communicate. Because a nation doesn't control it, that nation can't impose limits on it and we're all the smarter.

--- EO --- Mi pensas ke ĝi certe helpus en lernado de romanaj lingvoj, ĉar ĝi estas ĉefa inspirita per ili. Pensu pri Esperanto kiel inversa influita Latino. Ĉi tiu ankaŭ signifas ke ĝi estas facilege por parolantoj de kelka pli simila lingvoj lerni ĝin, ekzemple la itala. Tamen, mi devas averti vin ke se vi provas lerni Esperanton samatempe alia lingvo, ĝi eble okupus unu jaro aŭ du por malĥaosigi vian menson, ĉar kelkaj vortoj eble samus. >Learning it makes other languages easier to learn Ekzistas multajn provojn, kiuj esplori la propedeŭtika valoro de Esperanto, por plu detaloj oni povas vidi la viki paĝo [0] or read this article [1] about how Esperanto can help. Amike, Ne OP --- EN --- >>8773 I think it would definitely help in learning romance languages, since it is so heavily inspired by them. Think of Esperanto as like a reverse influenced Latin. This also means that it can be significantly easier for speakers of some closer languages to learn it, such as italian. However I must warn that if you try to learn Esperanto alongside something else, it might take a year or two to get them untangled in your head because there might be quite a few shared words :P >Learning it makes other languages easier to learn There have been a few attempts looking into the propaedeutic value of Esperanto, for more details one can see the wiki page [0] aŭ legi ĉi tion artikolon [1] pri kiel Esperanto povas helpi. Friendly, Not OP [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaedeutic_value_of_Esperanto [1] https://www.fluentin3months.com/2-weeks-of-esperanto/

>>8768 Is there something to gain by learning Esperanto if you're already fluent in a couple Romance languages? I already know French and Spanish so aside from getting to talk to Esperantists I don't see much use in learning it. Kinda funny though that I can understand a good portion of it without having studied it.

>>8772

>>8781 Nope but you can claim that you know the best language ever created by mankind also it might come in handy if a dictator/nation decides to unify every culture under a single identity and makes Esperanto an offical language

>>8774 >world government >world culture >world langauge Build a world language and you are closer to one world government.

>>8804 >best language ever created by mankind LOL Look at that esperanto talker and laugh

All word-based language is a dead end. The language of the future should employ references directly to coordinate patterns, instead of words as they currently exist. Historically humans could not refer to coordinates at all, today the average smartphone employs GPS, tomorrow instead of vague descriptions like "that box over there" you give its coordinates. That should be the basis.

>>8808 How would that work, though? This new form of commuication you envision is highly abstract. If we go by programming languages as a model, your idea could work, but would rely on significantly less abstract models to act as a foundation. I mean that in the sense of the following: Right now visual languages exist for programming that only require understanding shapes and how to put them together. That said, they must have been build by a lower level language such as C. They would simply be too abstract to be created whole-cloth. At least initially. Likewise, a language built on coordinates or raw conceptual markers would have to have an underlying language to form the foundation. At least if my thinking on the proposal is correct.

>>8808 How about humans develop antennae and we communicate like some bugs? And we rub our antennae together? And to communicate online, we use VR and virtual antennae?

>>8829 At least someone here is thinking

>>8834 The image of humans with giant antenna coming from their foreheads and non-verbally communicating is hilarious. Like, what if you walked in on an intense argument between three or four people? And it's 100% non verbal. Imagine a board meeting where everyone is huddled around like a football team, it's really cool how much society would change if you modified or added something to our biology.

>>8806 Honestly, though, constructed languages can be superior to natural ones in that htey adhere to logic much more heavily

>>8805 >world language Despite the initial intent, Esperanto is now more intended to for use as a world second language, that is to put foreign people's on a more even ground (and makes it where you can only know one language to speak to multiple people of varying native tongues, although Esperanto's not likely prominent enough yet for this to be as practical a use)

>>8853 I heard at one point that China has a school that teaches students Esperanto. I'm not sure why this would happen, though. The only thing I can think of is making it easier to speak with foreigners without resorting to English, which is the current international language (more or less. For example, as I understand it, all air traffic controllers outside of Western countries speak English in addition to their native languages)

>>8900 I believe China still uses Esperanto in some news outlets, partially because it's easier than English and it not being English esperanto.china.org.cn http://esperanto.cri.cn/ http://www.espero.com.cn/ As to whether these groups are sponsored by the Central Government or are simply well established and independent, I have no idea.

I do have to admit that one of the things that irked me about Esperanto was the stress location. As I understand it, the words in Esperanto are stressed on the second-to-last vowel of a word. For example: Arm = Brako, stressed as BRA-ko Watch = Horlogxo, stressed as horLOgxo (the "gx" is meant to indicate a kind of "jh" sound) Wristwatch = brakhorlogxo, stressed as brakhorLOgxo So the stress basically moves. It's not a big deal for regular speech, but I wonder if anyone trying poetic verse in Esperanto deals with the moving vowel stress or just ignores it. For comparison, I think languages derived from Old Norse (German, Old English, Icelandic, etc) generally put the vowel stress in the first vowel of a word, which would make it a bit more consistent for poetry. If you're into that sort of thing, anyway.

>>8946 >stressed on the second-to-last vowel I believe it's actually second-to-last syllable

https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/29291208 Many of the Harvard Classics translated into Esperanto. I found reading in Esperanto with an EO dictionary on the side is a good way to learn, especially if you already know the work

>>9934 Nevermind, it is vowel

>>8946 German and English are not derived from Old Norse, though English has influences from Old Norse through the Danelaw

Anyone know any good IRC (or other IM'ing) channels for Esperanto that aren't dead?

JRR Tolkien was quite into Esperanto, having learned it in his teens. The Hobbit, and perhaps his whole Lord of the Rings cycle, has been translated to Esperanto and is available on Amazon. That said, one of the criticisms he laid against the language was that there was no must-have cultural item for Esperanto. That is, there was, or is, no song, story, etc. that people really must learn Esperanto to appreciate. Personally, if growing awareness and appreciation for Esperanto is the goal, my money is on opera. People already understand that most opera is in a foreign language so they will be more accepting of an opera in Esperanto. Pair that with really good music and you have the opportunity to spread the language far and wide. The more people accustomed to hearing it means the more people likely to speak it.

>>8805 Just because the creator is jewish doesn't mean it's yet another conspiracy.

>>11157 Just to back up your statement and bring the thread back to Esperanto in general, Zamenhof lived in an area that was more or less ethnically diversified (as I understand it). He was a Polish Jew and spoke Hebrew and Yiddish, but in the city of Bialystock there was also German, French, perhaps Russian as well. Zamenhof believed if there was a common language there would be reduced barriers to communication and more opportunity to stop identifying people as "the other". Naive, perhaps, but nobly intentioned. Unfortunately, he couldn't contend with national leaders who understood the political value of language and resisted adoption of a universal tongue. Without a powerful international backer, Esperanto became doomed to something closer to a novelty than a true universal language. Not that the language doesn't have faults, besides. It was created in the late 1800s and hasn't been allowed to grow through exposure the way natural languages do, so that is to be expected.

It might be interesting to create a thread over in /lit/ for Esperanto stories, poems and so on. Maybe compile the best of them into a PDF or ebook to share out. A kind of adjunct publication to Lainzine, like "La fabeloj de Lajno" or something similar.

Can anyone find Zamenhof's Esperanto Bible translation on epub? Found a PDF, but the font's too small for me to read on my nook and, being a pdf, I can't adjust the font size

>>11369 Gutenberg seems to have something: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11307

>>11157 ...but I mean things do align, right? Even if it ain't a conspiracy, that group of people have ultimately worked seemingly together towards a common goal. Whether it be their conscious or unconscious goal... you know.... if it quacks like a duck....

>>11396 I can agree with this, though I'll say that Esperanto is my favorite Jewish conspiracy

There's a whole subreddit dedicated to Esperanto memes: https://www.reddit.com/r/BonajMemeoj/

There's this chrome (ew, though) plugin that displays a different English to Esperanto word as the new tab page: https://umonkey.us/articles/esperanto-word-tabs-browser-extension/ Also, >>11369 , currently making an ebook of the Esperanto translated Bible and am halfway through, will upload when it's done

>>11396 you people need help.

>>14000 >>11369 Made it. If anyone else actually reads it and finds a problem, post here so I can fix it

Here's a fun app I found. To meet nearby people who speak languages you're learning. Useful for a fair amount of languages, but made by Esperantists https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amikumu.amikumu Not many people yet as it's quite new