Re:Today is Esperanto Day – here’s why I learned it
by drugme on Saturday December 15, 2018 @12:50PM
(#18689419)
Note that such a language would not actually need to be actively spoken in normal life much.
Almost by definition - if a language isn't "spoken much" - it isn't really language. But rather a collection of rules and definitions.
Re:Today is Esperanto Day – here’s why I learned it
by chillacy on Saturday December 15, 2018 @02:27PM
(#18689901)
Latin isn't spoken much and we still call it a language: a dead language. Esperanto is still spoken, it's just a particularly uncommon (but not even the smallest) language.
Re:Today is Esperanto Day – here’s why I learned it
by drugme on Monday December 17, 2018 @02:01PM
(#18701178)
OK, I'll correct myself:
"If a language is (or never has been) spoken much..."
Re:Today is Esperanto Day – here’s why I learned it
by em-bee on Tuesday December 18, 2018 @01:03AM
(#18704818)
http://jbr.me.uk/ranto/m.html gives a better definition of a dead language: one that does not naturally evolve because it does not have any native speakers, but only second language speakers.
Re:Today is Esperanto Day – here’s why I learned it
by 4thaccount on Saturday December 15, 2018 @01:07PM
(#18689528)
Also, many Esperanto speakers were killed in WWII as Hitler hated it because the inventor was Jewish and for nationalist reasons and Stalin because he thought they would be spies. I recall Zamenhoff's children died in concentration camps. Truly horrifying.
The nationalistic policies around WW1 and after put a stop to it.
I think it's a tremendous shame... it would be so nice to communicate with everyone in a simple language.
Note that such a language would not actually need to be actively spoken in normal live much. It just needs to be simple enough to be learn in a short amount of time and to have international backing so it is taught in schools.