This is clearly a delightful volume, although I’m not sure that it gives Esperanto the credit it deserves.

Esperanto grew out of a dream to become a practical reality. I’ve used it a lot on my travels and I recommend it as a way of overcoming the language barrier.

Great subject. Correct me if I’m wrong, but upon the creation of Israel, wasn’t there some picking up the language “by the bootstraps?” As with Hindi in India when Gandhi needed a tongue for the young country, wasn’t Modern Hebrew cobbled together and then spoken (. . . as opposed to forgotten, as is happening in so many languages around the globe?)

I wonder how accent/intonation is created for these languages. They all sound western to me in fact. (I speak 2 Asian languages and 2 western languages.)

Languages fascinate me. My native tongue is English, and I was first intrigued by Spanish, spending 5 years in school studying it. I discovered then that the truly fundamental difference between languages are the instruments in the verbal toolbox, that expressing a thought was entirely dependent upon the words that were accessible. I discovered that knowing a single language potentially limited my ability to express something. My next language was Italian, and this one still has me in its grips. Italian is different from Spanish, because so much of the language is body language and the use of proverbs and the use of vocal intonations. Beautifully complex!! How and why are some languages more dependent upon the tangible tools (words) and others dependent upon the coloring and texture (inflection and body language)?

Being from Africa, I inevitably had to learn my mother tongue in addition to the national language (SWAHILI) and the official language (ENGLISH). I’ve also picked up other dialects spoken in Kenya. So far I can speak or understand 5 languages. I worry about the loss of our dialects with intermarriage, migration and immigration. The other threat to languages is urbanization; somehow the youth of today find their dialects inferior to English and unfortunately this has caused an almost extinction of dialects in Cities.

James , My grandmother was a hebrew teacher in Jaffa from a family who had never left the region . Her family and grandmother came from Hebron.So although some had to learn a new language , the original hebrew language was there continuously and had never died out from the region.

The Commedia Beauregard is an independent theater group in St. Paul, MN. As the only theatre company in the world to have ever produced a full theatrical production in the Klingon Language (A Klingon Christmas Carol), it was only natural that they were contacted by the producers of the bonus content on the recently released Star Trek Blu-Ray discs to be a part of the bonus features. Associate Artistic Director Sasha Walloch directed scenes from The Klingon Hamlet for the video.

I was told that present day Italian was purposefully created or altered with Dante’s works in mind. How does this combination of artistic creation and natural language compare to fully created languages, and is it really possible that Esperanto might gain a substantial following?

I have observed the ascent of a new language, beginning in the 20th century, with the advent of the broadcast media.

In a phrase, it’s the language of commercial advertising where something is described as it really is not.

This language, designed to influence the minds of as many listeners as possible,in one fell swoop, unnaturally evolved into political “double-speak” which reached it’s zenith -in my humble opinion-during the reign of George W. Bush.

It requires a strenuous exercise in translation for a native English speaker. One must first hear a term then reverse it’s original meaning, divide it, turn it inside-out and upside-down, finally coming to rest at an arbitrary definition of what was just said. The common name of this new language? It’s “WTF”.

Fascinating topic.

And what about the unique language(s) created & used within companies & workgroups?

Tends to be slang, acronyms, crude puns/humor, etc. and constantly evolving.

For me the frustrating part is that professional lexicographers strongly pretend that such language simply does not exist.

A friend, an Esperantist, tells me that Esperanto is very helpful as an intermediate language for computer translation between two others. One advantage is that there is only the need to develop one system of translation (to/from Esperanto) for each natural language; another is that Esperanto is logical in its assignment of meanings, avoiding ambiguity and the need to determine meaning through context. Comments?

I suppose I’m one of them, having worked on Jinnic and Lorošae for so long. Nice to see that our kind is finally getting some recognition.

Speaking as a conlanger, I was initially going to be deeply bothered by the claim that conlangs are primarily created for the purpose of making a perfect language. (For my part, for example, I know that my own conlangs are all artistic, and the majority of conlangers I know fit into the same scheme.) I know that irregularities in verbs, nouns, etc. are — for me at least — one of the most interesting parts of conlanging. Conlanging allows insight into the way natural languages work as well as constituting an art form of its own, an end unto itself. Sure, it’d be gratifying if people would learn some of them, but that’s not the point.

Finally, I can say without hesitation or doubt that more than 900 conlangs have been created, with various degrees of “completeness” — insofar as that applies to any language — within the past five years (if not the past year), let alone the past 900 years.

I have been frustrated with my language (english) many times in my life. Recently I’ve delved into the world of poetry more, reading and writing it, and I’ve found that through the language of poetry, I’ve found a deeper, more meaningful, more honest way of communicating my thoughts and ideas and views of the world.

Best.

Chouchana– thanks. I’ve been curious. May be that I’ve been confused by what I’ve heard (and am ignorant) of Yiddish. A beautiful history, no doubt. (Or herstory!)

I find linguistics– a branch of anthropology– fascinating.

There is no need for any other planned – not artificial – language other than Esperanto.

Wel, if you consider a train an artificial horse – I guess you could consider Esperanto an artificial language.

Vilchjo de Mesao Arizono, Usono

I would put Dr. L. L. Zamenhof, creator of Esperanto, in the category of visionary, dreamer, and idealist, even though one would hesitate even to say “idealist” because Esperanto is very real. The proof is in the pudding. Esperanto works. It works much better than advertised.

Filipo de Esperanto-USA.

[...] [...]

While I find many constructed languages interesting, real economic and education advantages could be gained by simplifications. Having taught English to speakers of other languages, eliminating many irregularities (verbs, spelling, plurals, etc) would be a great benefit to non-native speakers as well as native speakers.

For example, the idea of a spelling bee makes the Germans laugh because German has such regular spelling.

The evolution of English has generally been in the direction of simplification (eg fewer plural and verb tense irregularities) — shouldn’t we just encourage this even more?

james Hebrew is not yidish.

I became interested in this subject in my teenage years some decades ago, when I also learned Esperanto. I searched out the rather obscure material on the subject. There has been a plethora of scholarly books on the philosophical languages (approx. 1600-1800) in recent years. Yet I can’t think of a popular major book in English on the subject of artificial languages since Mario Pei’s 1958 ONE LANGUAGE FOR THE WORLD. Primarily artistic languages were not on the radar screen back then. It’s a delight to see the subject popularized for the mass market and even on the radio, and treated with some dignity to boot.

I’ve read that more people speak Klingon than Esperanto… bljeghbe’chugh vaj blHegh!

Jayarava:
Please do tell us where you read that odd info! Where and when in the world has there ever been a Klingon conference with around 2,000 fluent speakers, such as can be found at each annual world Esperanto congress?:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Esperanto_Congress
or even a daily podcast such as in Esperanto:
http://www.polskieradio.pl/eo/

A rarely-mentioned international auxiliary language worth checking out is Unilingua (aka: Mirad) on Wikibooks. It is one of the most well-thought-out, ingenious solutions out there for serious use.

I think what we really need to be working on is a computer-parsable “interlingua” that can be used as a medium into and out of which all other natural languages can be automatically translated with confidence. The project that has come closest to this can be studied at http://www.eskimo.com/~ram/lexical_semantics.html#S4_3_4. This, by the way, has nothing to do with the popularly-known Interlingua language by Peano, which, though brilliant, is just another Euro-centric endeavor.

I was skeptical about invented languages but, on a whim, I decided to teach myself Esperanto two years ago. I have traveled more–and more cheaply–in the last two years than in all the rest of my years put together. Also, I have had many delightful intercultural exchanges that would not have been possible without the aid of such a bridge language. Esperanto made a believer out of me.

Vilchjo – most conlangs are not IALs like Esperanto, and do not attempt to compete with it. Like Tolkien’s languages (Quenya, Sindarin, Khuzdul among others), most conlangs are primarily works of art, not intended to be spoken by anyone except maybe the implied fictional speakers in whatever context the language is set in.

For a more comprehensive and convincing critique of Esperanto than anything I can offer, vidu ĉi tion.

[...] [...]

@Fluffyskunk: Most of the criticisms from the link you cite are actually the author’s personal stylistic preferences dressed up in pseudo-linguistic garb. Most of these have been addressed quite thoughtfully by Claude Piron, a former UN translator and prolific author who worked with western european, slavic, and asian languages in addition to Esperanto. You might find his replies useful: http://claudepiron.free.fr/articlesenanglais/why.htm

Great program, as usual! I was hoping you would post some credit for the music act – “We will rock you” in Klingon. Where can I find the whole track???
Thanks!