Socialism

I think its a good idea in theory but sadly it is absolutly not a Universal language, it is an european language (i tried learning it and from my limited experience , its a mix of french/spanich/italian/english with a little bit of german.) So i dont really like it because of the racist implication that European language are the most important and are "Universal ".

I'm currently learning it. I like the concept, and no other conlang/auxlang has become as widely spoken or treated as seriously as Esperanto. There are actually children who are native speakers, as in Esperanto is their first language, no other conlang can claim that.

However, as many users here have pointed out, it has problems. It's very Euro-centric. So while it is easy for romance language speakers to pick up, if you are from a different language family, it's no picnic.

There is also the issue of relevance. Esperanto has a fairly active online community, you can pretty easily find Discord servers and forums with several hundred to 1000+ active speakers from all over the world.

If you are lucky, there are local clubs and groups that meet up in person and speak Esperanto to each other.

Esperanto has also been shown, at least in children, to aid in learning a second language. Learning Esperanto helps you get used to the process of learning a language in general, and basically gives it to you in easy mode.

But if your goal to learn a second language is utility, then Esperanto almost certainly isn't a good choice. For instance, I live in the US, and not in a region that has a high Hispanic population. That being said, I still encounter 3-5 people a month who are Spanish speakers. So even for me, learning to speak conversational Spanish would be much more useful as a second language than Esperanto.

That's actually my long term plan, to start with Esperanto because I really struggle with learning languages, even Spanish has been too tough for me. But Esperanto has made it easier so far, and it's fun.

Ultimately, Esperanto would have been a far better world language than English, which annoyingly has become the de-facto world language, and I say that as a native English speaker.

I don't see anything like Esperanto arising anytime soon, if ever. If you think it's cool, learn it, you'll at least learn how to learn a foreign language better and you'll maybe find some new friends online, can't complain about that.

My opinion is this: who can I speak Esperanto with?

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Exactly.

The problem with Esperanto is that languages don't work like that: they're not created out of thin air. They exist because people speak them and they come into existance from other languages that get distorted beyond recognition by the people who misuse them.

No living language is known to have been conjured into existence, with perhaps the possible exception of a few rare language isolates like Basque that might have been invented from scratch a long time ago, since nobody knows where they come from exactly.

If Klingons spoke Esperanto, it would be a thing

Mi parolas ĝin! Mi lernis ĝin dum la pandemio. Esperanto ne estas utila, kaj nun mi learnas la japanan, sed mi amas la lingvon.

I like what Arcadius Avellanus, a Latin scholar and speaker, wrote about Esperanto.

Somehow I think it would have been better if they just modernized Latin.

I find the idea of making a distinctly European language and calling it universal quite thoughtless at best.

I have read most of this thread, and it is very interesting question indeed.

My response:

Taken as a hobby in con-langs it has an impressive community (I don't speak it though). This is to be compared to other con-langs, not other natural languages. Just the number of learners or historical connotation do not make it necessary preferrable to other con-langs in this day and era.

I believe its practical purpose as international lingua franca is defeated by its Eurocentrism and the actual spread and expansion of its users. It is not a matter of merely the number of users but where and how you actually often they meet them.

For this reason I think it is better to follow the advice I read elsewhere (I think on Lemmy), like French and Spanish can open up many more communication opportunity in ex-colonies, and we should really pay more attention to languages or families that have been local lingua franca in localities of Asia and Africa, to have a more global perspective.

I have made several runs at Esperanto because I like the idea of the language (a common, easily learned second language for all) and because I like the implementation (the table words, the system of affixes, the simplicity (no irregular verbs, no gendered nouns, power of using a single root to make an entire family of words, etc.). Latterly I realized that Esperanto also acts as a social filter: almost always, those who learn it are people who are interested in other cultures, have a warm and welcoming attitude, and enjoy getting to know people — not a bad group to enter. Plus there's the benefit of Pasporta Servo (basically, free B&B as a guest in Esperantists' homes to visit and see the sights). It's a very international community, scattered across the world (though Europe likely has the most members). I also like its use as a first foreign language: people can learn the skill of learning a foreign language via a language that doesn't offer irrelevant impediments (e.g., irregular verbs).

After multiple runs, I have found my footing and am enjoying it this time. Two things that made a difference. First, I was misled by my expectation of reaching fluency quickly (with talk of 3 months, etc.). That led to losing heart when, after 4 months, I was nowhere near fluent. Then I saw a YouTube video from a fluent speaker, and he indicated that a basic level of fluency takes about a year of consistent study and practice. Well, okay. I was expecting too much, thus my disappointment. I'm perfectly willing to go a year, and now I know to expect that. (I'm now 4 months in and having labored conversation, but now it's not depressing since I now see it as a necessary but temporary stage on the road to fluency.)

Second, I have focused on building vocabulary. I use Anki in a particular way, but the key discovery has been that the more words I learn, the easier it becomes to learn a new word. I don't really understand why, but it's quite clear that it happens. Of course, I still encounter some words that resist learning a little, but Anki takes care of that. I'm surprised at how many words just stay with simply because I made a card for them.

Another good thing about Esperanto are all the free learning resources, including 1-1 Zoom conversations with experienced and fluent speakers trained to help newbies. (Best non-free intro: Complete Esperanto, by Tim Owen and Judith Meyer: the book includes access to an online library of MP3 files to train listening and (by repeating phrases) speaking.

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