How Many Readers Speak Esperanto?

lifebouy asks: "I just read a story about a high school that teaches Esperanto. I've noticed the majority of Esperantists I have met are IT professionals, perhaps because it nurtures our need to explore new things. So I was wondering, how many Slashdot readers speak Esperanto? Has anyone else noticed the high rate of IT Esperantists?"

Comments

Re:Esperanto, for what?

[raju1kabir]

The headmaster of a secondary school near Manchester, England, found consistently over an 18-year period that pupils who learned Esperanto for a year acquired a level of fluency in the language equivalent to four years of French study, and subsequently achieved a higher level in French after three years of study than those pupils who learned only French for four years.

And this has what to do with Esperanto, exactly? Studies have shown that learning any second language makes third and subsequent languages easier.

At least if their teacher had been responsible enough to teach them Spanish instead of Esperanto for the first year, they'd have a second useful skill to show for the time spent.

Re:A glaring omission

[dmachleid]

I have to agree that many conlangs are essentially masturbatory works: playthings, pet projects or (shudder) fanfic. But Esperanto (and several others, Esperanto is just the "best of breed") are different. They were constructed to address the language problem, which is essentially this:
Learning another natural language (well) is *hard*, and once you've done it you only know one more, you can converse with some new subset of the world populace, and at a sub-native fluency. You're still at a disadvantage against a native speaker.

But, if there were an easy language to learn (deterministic pronunciation, no iregular verbs, etc) that there were no native speakers of, everyone could learn it and use it as a common, neutral ground. Buisness could be conducted and treatys negotiated without one party being at a disadvantage, and with the effort required to learn one simple language one can now speak to the entire world.

That is the goal of Esperanto.

It is, to a degree, misty-eyed idealism. Everyone get's to keep their local cultures, idioms, and languages, but also gets the ability to communicate with everyone else in the world thru a second auxiliary language. Learning other natural languages would still be an option for scholars or hobyists (or anyone, in fact, just as it is now), but not at all necessary for the tourist, buisnessman, or head of state.

It cannot be debated that it would be a Good Thing (tm). I love the idea, and yes, I speak Esperanto. Do I think this idealistic state will ever come to be? No, not realisticly. Will I keep trying to promote Esperanto as a good idea? Yes.

I'm a hobyist (I've been labeled a language fetishist by some) and an idealist, but I'm also rational. If someone can come up with 1 sane argument against a universal auxiliary language, or a better candidate than Esperanto for this language, I'd love to hear it.

Re:Okay, I'll bite.

[raju1kabir]

I'm a nerd. All but one of the laundry-list assumptions are false in my case. And I'm considering learning Esperanto. Why? Because the reasons listed here are pretty good ones.

Really? I'd be genuinely interested to know which ones you found to be "pretty good". I skimmed through the FAQ (especially part 9) and all their answers struck me as either non-sequiturs or downright stupid.

Esperanto is not meant to be a replacement primary language. It's meant to be a useful fallback, a common secondary language.

Well, if that's your goal, you've definitely picked a loser. There is not, and never will be, any situation anyplace on earth outside of an Esperanto convention where you can find an Esperanto speaker more easily than you can find an English speaker.

If you want a fallback, pick something that people who leave the house actually speak. There are plenty of languages with large diasporas. Chinese. French. Russian. Arabic.

Or at least invent some sort of giant red forehead tattoo for Esperanto speakers so you can find your one counterpart among the thousand people you'll see in a week.

Until then, its only use will be in completely contrived situations (blue-moon-rare anecdotes about chance Esperantencounters notwithstanding).