Nek fiŝo nek birdo / Neither fish nor fowl
| My name is Steven Brewer and I speak Esperanto. | Mia nomo estas Steven Brewer kaj mi parolas Esperanton... |
| Anyone who's learned Esperanto in the United States knows what I'm talking about. When you tell people that you speak Esperanto, you get looks of stunned disbelief. Or they just politely look away and change the subject. You might as well say you worship Satan. Worshiping Satan might actually be preferable... | Oni kiu lernis Esperanto en usono scias tion, pri kio mi parolas. Se vi diras ke vi parolas Esperanton, oni rigardas vin sen kompreni. Aŭ ili rigardas for kaj ŝanĝas la temon. Pli bone diru ke vi preĝas al Satano. Preĝi al Satano eble preferindus... |
| I told a famous computer scientist once that I wrote haiku in Esperanto. He snorted derisively. "You want to make sure that no-one can read them?" he laughed. | Mi diris al konata komputila sciencisto ke mi verkas hajkojn Esperanto. Li ridis moke. "Vi volas certigi ke neniu povas legi ilin?" li diris. |
| Most people in the United States have never heard of Esperanto -- or at best they don't know what it means. Most have the idea that Esperanto is some kind of incomprehensible gibberish. Even people who have heard of Esperanto often believe it is some kind of failed utopia: a hopeless dream that was doomed to failure. Almost no-one knows what Esperanto actually is. | La plejmulto da homoj en usono neniam aŭdis de Esperanto -- aŭ almenaŭ ne scias kio ĝi estas. Multaj kredas ke ĝi estas iu ne komprenebla babilado. Eĉ oni kiu aŭdis pri Esperanto, ofte kredas ke ĝi estas iu perdita utopio kiu frakasigis. Preskaŭ neniu scias kio ja estas Esperanto. |
| Esperanto is a language that is easy to learn. It was initially created as a project by one man, Ludoviko Zamenhof, who was born 150 years ago today. But today, Esperanto is a language -- like any other -- that you can learn to read and speak. There are magazines and books and websites in Esperanto. There is an Esperanto-speaking community of people around the world, who share a delightful common language. About half my Facebook friends speak Esperanto... | Esperanto estas lingvo kiun oni povas facile lerni. Kreis ĝin unu viro, Ludoviko Zamenhof, kiu naskiĝis antaŭ 150 jaroj hodiaŭ. Hodiaŭ Esperanto estas lingvo -- kiel iu alia -- kiun vi volas lerni por kaj paroli kaj legi. Ekzistas revuoj kaj libroj kaj retpaĝaroj en Esperanto. Kaj ekzistas Esperanto-parolanta komunumo de homoj ĉirkaŭ la mondo, kiuj dividas belan komununan lingvon. Proksimume duono el miaj Facebook-amikoj parolas Esperanton... |
| In other countries, Esperanto doesn't carry the same level of opprobrium. I remember when I was in Brazil, there was a general acknowledgment of Esperanto as a good idea. "Legal!" people would say (That's how you say "Cool!" in Brazil.) "I always meant to learn Esperanto." | En aliaj lingvon oni ne tiom malestimas Esperanton. Mi memoras kiam mi estis en Brazilo, oni ĝenerale traktis Espereanto kiel io lerninda. "Legal!" oni dirus (tiel oni diras "mojosa!" en Brazilo.) "Mi ĉiam intencis lerni Esperanton." |
| It's hard to appreciate Esperanto if you've never tried to really speak a second language fluently. I studied Spanish for 10 years and became barely fluent. I achieved the same level of fluency in Esperanto in about 6 months. Esperanto really is easy to learn. | Oni malfacile komprenas la valoron de Esperanto se oni neniam provi lerni lingvon ĝis flueco. Mi studis la hispanan dum 10 jaroj kaj apenaŭ atingis fluecon. Mi atingis la saman nivelon de fluecon en Esperanto pos ses monatoj. Esperanton oni vere facile lernas. |
| The first time I really appreciated the magic of Esperanto, I was in Slovakia attending a meeting of scientists. There were scientists from 26 different European countries: we could all talk to one another fluently in Esperanto. It was like magic! There were some representatives from the local community and they couldn't see it it all: it was just 26 foreigners speaking a foreign language to them. | La unua fojo ke mi vere rekonis la magion de Esperanto, mi estis en Slovakio por kunveno de sciencistoj. Estis tie sciencistoj de 26 malsamaj eŭropaj landoj: ni povis paroli unu la alian flue en Esperanto. Estis magie! Estis kelkaj homoj de la loka registaro kaj ili tute ne povis vidi kio estis: al ili estis nur 26 fremduloj kiuj parolas fremdan lingvon. |
| People who speak Esperanto want their language to be acknowledged as a valid object of study. Unfortunately, the way disciplines get parsed up, Esperanto generally gets left out. Although there are some Esperanto speakers almost everywhere, there aren't very many in any once place. Esperanto isn't one of the traditional languages. Esperanto isn't a "natural language" like linguistics faculty want to study. And Esperanto is just a footnote to history. | Oni kiu parolas Esperanto volas ke sia lingvo estu agnoskita kiel valida studobjekto. Bedaŭrinde, tiel, kiel fakoj dividiĝas, Esperanton oni kutime forlasas. Kvankam Esperantistoj estas ĉie, ne estas multe da ili ie ajn. Esperanto ne estas unu el la tradiciajn lingvoj. Esperanto ne estas "natura" lingvo kiel la lingvistaj fakuloj volas esplori. Kaj Esperanto estas nur piednoto al la historio. |
| That said, Esperanto now has more than 100 years of its own history. Esperanto is the only artificial language to outlive its creator. Esperanto has a community of speakers with members from nearly every country. Every year, the body of translated and original literature in Esperanto grows. Esperanto is an interesting phenomenon: Esperanto is worthy of study. | Tiel dirite, Esperanto nun havas pli ol 100 jaroj de sia propra historio. Esperanto estas la nura artefarita lingvo por supervivi sian kreinton. Esperanto havas komunumon de parolantoj de preskaŭ ĉiu lando. Ĉiujare, la korpo de tradukitaj kaj originalaj literaturaĵoj kreskas. Esperanto estas interesa fenonmeno. Esperanto meritas studadon. |
| But, neither fish nor fowl, Esperanto is neglected by higher education. Blinded by their prejuidices, Esperanto remains in the shadows. It's time to recognize Esperanto as worthy of intellectual curiosity. Colleges and Universities should offer Esperanto as a course of study. | Sed, nek fiŝo nek birdo, Esperanton preteratentas altlernejoj. Blinditaj per antaŭjuĝoj, Esperanto restas en la ombroj. Jam temp' estas rekoni Esperanton kiel scivolindaĵo. Kolegioj kaj universitatoj ofertu Esperanton kiel studobjekto. |
by limako
- limako's blog
- Login or register to post comments
Comments
what it takes to take root
No seed can take root in an environment of dismissiveness, but that is exactly the environment of higher education. The pinnacle of achievement for an academic is to be able to declare that something won’t work. The most important example of this, indeed, probably the canonical example of this, is the Morgenbesser retort. (An example of lesser importance is the Second Law of Thermodynamics.) The derisive snort of the famous computer scientist was but an echo of this.
Regards,
Mike Jones
December 25, 2009 by Mike Jones, 2 years 6 weeks ago
that seems awfully dismissive of academics. :)
At the risk of sounding flippant, that dismissive stereotype of academics does not conform to the reality of many people I knew and know from academia... plenty of people doing all sorts of creative things (and achieving recognition for it within the academic system).
December 25, 2009 by russ, 2 years 6 weeks ago
academia
Yeah, yeah.
December 27, 2009 by Mike Jones, 2 years 6 weeks ago
Vere, sed domaĝe.
Tre bona priskriba artikolo pri kiu estas Esperanto... k ankaŭ pri ĝia aktuala stato en Usono.
Sed hodiaŭ ne estas hieraŭ. Feliĉan EsperantoTagon al vi, k al la tuta mondo!
jon
December 15, 2009 by frimmin, 2 years 8 weeks ago
Thanks for this post! I do
Thanks for this post! I do agree that higher education should offer Esperanto as a course of study.
I am a fourth-year university student and next semester, I am creating my own independent study of Esperanto, working with a faculty advisor. Though he is not overly familiar with Esperanto, a friend of mine learned the language when he was in high school and has offered to help me out. Of course, I have the fantastic internet communities as additional resources!
Just wanted to say that I agreed with your points about Esperanto deserving a place in academia and thank you for posting this article in a side-by-side translation format, which helps me begin to learn Esperanto's patterns. :)
December 15, 2009 by sparrowlight, 2 years 8 weeks ago
College Groups
That's marvellous! There is a high degree of not disinterest but derision of Esperanto by the University of Illinois Department of Foreign Languages. I'm glad you found a supportive advisor. If you ever want to try your Esperanto on another group of collegiate Esperantists, I'd love to have my club Skype with you. :-) Good luck!
December 18, 2009 by Darsi Ross, 2 years 7 weeks ago
Re: Nek fiŝo nek birdo / Neither fish nor fowl
My perspective is mostly as a high-school teacher who must put in persepecive on a regular basis the incredible and all too rare value of being an educated person. So whenever one wishes to criticize the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, that is a clear sign, to me, of anti-intellectualism. One of the things that I have been most proud of in the past year has been the message that Michelle Obama has sent to the young people of our country: It is cool to be smart. So if one fails to appreciate the study of Esperanto as a worthy endeavor in its own right, we might want to call them to task for failing to appreciate the need for human beings to simply love to learn. This may especially apply to your scientist friend.
This is not to diminish the practical aspects of such learning. But as Plato might say after such a dialog: "Give this young man a penny that he might feel he has gained something.”
Best wishes on Zamenhof's 150th.
--Gaĉjo
December 15, 2009 by saasmath, 2 years 8 weeks ago