Hello James,

In my opinion, Esperanto could not be embraced by most people because it is not a "live" language. With English being the global world language, who needs an artificially constructed language? Also, any L2 is best learned where it is used as native - where would that  be for  Esperanto? And are there any films / books / blogs in Esperanto? You see, Esperanto has been doomed from its birth, unfortunately.

Kind regards,

Mariana

Dear James Liberman,

As Mariana rightly observes, Languages reflect peoples and nations. Since Esperanto does not represent a specific group of people with a specific culture, linguists and researchers do not take it seriously.  May I ask if  you have personal reasons which go against such popular opinion.

Best regards,

R. Biria

Esperanto has a culture, though no nation or "people" except those who choose it. There are native speakers--raised by couples who met through Esperanto. Its culture is unique--starting around 1890--through cross-cultural activity. The literature is extensive, with translations of many works by native speakers of the original (unlike most translations).  My understanding of language in general, including my native English and college German, has benefited from Esperanto, I've attended several world congresses, including France, Iceland, and China.

Esperanto was created by a genius. There is no doubt of that. A complete language which can operate in every situation and continuously develop according to the development of civilisation. It is not fixed in time of its creator. And it is so simple that everybody can learn it in couple of days. And then, the creator generously gave it to the whole world without asking any reward for himself.

Esperanto has survived for more than 100 years. Isn't that enough proof it is something valuable?

I strongly believe, Esperanto is a world heritage and must be preserved until its time comes. And it will come. The time will come when it will be considered unpolite to speak your own mother tounge to somebody belonging to other nation, especially to a small nation as mine is. To put somebody in subordinated position just because he was born in a small nation and had to spend many years and lot of money to learn your language and can never be so fluent as you who started as a newborn baby?

Same as rich people nowdays don't wear clothes with golden strips and jewls and pearls and feathers of rare birds as they used to do in order to show to poor people who they are.

Best regards from Croatia

Olga

Thanks for the thoughtful comment. Second language learning is a low priority in the US and we pay a price--less knowledge and appreciation of other peoples and cultures. We don't respect speakers of English as a second language enough--their mistakes our fragile egos. We avoid mistakes by remaining monolingual--a psychologically narrowing escape.

Acctually, I have to admit, my experience is that English and American people are very patient with us, not native speakers, I have never felt my pronunciation and mistakes bother them. In rare occasions when I speak in Croatian  with somebody who is not a native speaker, I am amused, it sounds funny to me, and I have an urge to correct them, which is not good.

Concerning Esperanto, I was very active in my student days, now I understand reading but it is difficult for me to talk. But I really believe, this language has to be kept alive, so many good things happened due to Esperanto, translations of literature from one small language to another language, better communication and understanding between people. Esperanto should be the first foreign language for everybody because it  is simple and regular. So, when somebody understands principles of language as phenomenon, it is easier to lean a language with irregularities that all other languages have. I have read a study that school children learning Esperanto also have better results in Mathematics and Geografy, not only other foreign language they learn.

Mia plezuro! You validate my positive experience with Esperanto.

Saluton E. James Lieberman!, Mi kredas ke la problemo estas ke ĝenerale ne ekzistas multa esploro pri la Esperanto lingvo. Umberto Eco havas unu esploro en la kio mencias tiu temo, la serĉado de la perfekta lingvo estas la nomo de la libro. En mia lando, Meksiko, ekzemple, nur sociologo kiu faris tekston pri ĝi, Maria Izabela Nájera de Sepulveda. Mi lasas fragmento de la libro, la problemo estas ke estas nur en la hispana. 

http://www.esperanto.es:8080/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11013/4961/N%C3%A0jera_Esperanto%20y%20comunicaci%C3%B3n%20humana_2ed.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

The problem seems to be that not only "(w)ith a few exceptions, linguists don't take it seriously, indeed, they know nothing about it." It is worse - there are lots and lots of linguists who think to know something about Esperanto, but they are wrong. For instance I called four linguistics assistants in Germany, all four were not aware that there are native Esperanto speakers... Others think there were not any films, books or blogs in Esperanto. But they exist.

I just published a study about the misinformation some linguists are constantly spreading.