I saw the thread at the ELNA membroj Yahoo group about the article Lost in Translation , which includes various replies -- I also see at least one other blogger here has printed his reply; here's mine. I don't think I'm quite the proselytizer limako is, and I can already think of other things I should have added, but I do try to be honest and positive -- and there's no point in second-guessing myself forever.
I saw your article and was moved to reply. I'm not sure I'm an
"Esperantist" and I don't entirely share the global vision of the
Esperanto movement, but the language is definitely fun, easy, and
worthwhile, and, I will at least grant that it *could* do the job of
universal second language if it ever could get to the point of being
used for that purpose.
But I can at least mention an answer to your first question, why I took it up:
I learned Esperanto about 5 years ago; my then 8-year-old son was
interested in languages and wanted to invent his own; I helped him
search for information on artificial languages on the internet, we
found some interesting sites about Esperanto and started to learn it
together. He learned a little, enough for his purposes at the time,
and stopped; but I was floored by how easy and sensible it was, and
quickly (as in about ten days) finished a basic course via email. I
took a year of German in college, 2 years of French in high school,
and several years of once-per-week Hebrew classes, but I never felt at
all competent at any of those languages -- I could read the exercises
in the textbook, but not a newspaper headline; I couldn't carry on a
simple conversation, unless the grammar and vocabulary stayed in a
very narrow list. But, after just a few days with Esperanto, and with
the help of an online dictionary, I could read almost anything! News,
internet forums, poetry, prose literature, it was really pretty easy!
At that level, at least, Esperanto really works -- it is a real
language, capable of expressing pretty much everything, and it's
incredibly easy to learn. For someone to whom foreign languages have
always seemed impenetrable, it was quite a revelation how simple
things could be!
This is not to say there's not a learning curve; writing is a little
harder than reading, listening and speaking it are harder still --
though they do come with practice and they are still easier than with
normal languages.
As for your second question:
Personally, I have no plans to bring it forward, but I do support the
language in small ways -- I buy Esperanto books on occasion, subscribe
to a few magazines, and I read and contribute in a few online forums.
I'm happy to encourage attempts to teach the language to others, and
to make its presence more visible. If I could afford it, I'd love to
go to an international congress some day just to be surrounded by
other Esperanto speakers! But I'll let the future take care of itself.
