Littlewoods ad uses rare language

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=215684

Talk of the town: Littlewoods’ Esperanto ad

If the world of fashion and advertising is all Greek to you, then a new TV ad might prove even more confusing.

Littlewoods Direct is trying to sell its clothing range using Esperanto - a language invented in the 19th century.

The new commercial will be screened for the first time today. Esperanto enthusiasts - there are an estimated 2,500 speakers in Britain - are hoping it will boost the language's popularity.

Esperanto was created to serve as a second language that could foster international understanding between cultures.

'We believe the need for Esperanto has never been greater and we really look forward to seeing the ad. It sounds very exciting,' said Stephen Thompson of the Esperanto Association of Britain.

David Inglis, of Littlewoods Direct, said: 'We know that the majority of people who watch the ad will not understand what is being said, but the language is as beautiful and stylish as our clothes - and we have added subtitles.'

By nehundo at 2008-07-14 21:32
nehundo's blog
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Duba!

One of the BBC World Service’s assistant producers knows some Esperanto, and asked me whether the princess’s language was actually Esperanto, because she had her doubts. I listened, and agreed with her: it isn’t. It sounds like no language known to me. ... Can anyone out there identify the language? Or is it (as I suspect) something cobbled together ad hoc? ... The BBC asked the Littlewoods press officer to comment on this. For some hours, apparently, he couldn’t get hold of anyone in authority to explain the matter, but finally, just before I was due to be interviewed at Bush House, the company issued a further press release to the effect that the timing of the earlier press release was a mistake, and that the ad in question would not be aired till next week.

- John C. Wells, http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/blog.htm

By ailanto at 2008-07-16 13:48
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Jes, sed ĉu ni povas spekti ĝin?

I hope someone's got this one scarfed and sent up to YouTube or Google Video — it'd be such a hoot, and not just with the TV commercial fanatics.

By Philip David Morgan at 2008-07-15 04:00
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Esperanto Not!

The video of the Littlewoods advert is on YouTube here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhIJH56YIWE

There's also an article about it here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7505820.stm

If it was once Esperanto, I'd say it reflects Esperanto after a 1000 year isolation from a dictionary or text book, spoken by natives, who learned it from an Idist.

Dave
--
You need an Esperanto shirt
http://koplushia.tripod.com/Esperanto/esprimoj.html