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They say that Esperanto can be learned at 1/10th the time of most other national languages. Some believe it should be promoted as a global lingua franca because it would be everyone's second (or third or...) language and no one's first language. This would be fairer than today's reliance on English, which benefits native English speakers over non-native English speakers. People say Esperanto is a *neutral* language. Esperanto grammar and spelling are also completely regular and easy to learn. Is it feasible or desirable as a replacement for English... or alongside English?
Others say that elevating Esperanto as an international language would also help preserve linguistic diversity in the world. Now, the big languages -- English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Chinese, Portuguese, Malay-Indonesian, etc. -- are swallowing up the littler languages. Perhaps throwing Esperanto into the mix would give the less prominent languages a bit more space.
They say that Esperanto can be learned at 1/10th the time of most other national languages. Some believe it should be promoted as a global lingua franca because it would be everyone's second (or third or...) language and no one's first language. This would be fairer than today's reliance on English, which benefits native English speakers over non-native English speakers. People say Esperanto is a *neutral* language. Esperanto grammar and spelling are also completely regular and easy to learn. Is it feasible or desirable as a replacement for English... or alongside English?
Others say that elevating Esperanto as an international language would also help preserve linguistic diversity in the world. Now, the big languages -- English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Chinese, Portuguese, Malay-Indonesian, etc. -- are swallowing up the littler languages. Perhaps throwing Esperanto into the mix would give the less prominent languages a bit more space.
People are proud of their own heritage and indeed Language, and preserving traditional languages would be the better option rather than trying to force some global language on people.
The world has enough languages, we dont need to create new ones that no one knows. Esperanto is worthless. We already have global trade languages and the only languages that are in danger would be regardless, minor languages are in danger from national or stronger regional languages.
I would rather see English evolve to become easier to learn and use.
Languages are living, organic things that change and grow over time to suit the needs of their users. My understanding is that Esperanto is an artificial construct. While I see the point in its having been developed (to facilitate communication between people who otherwise lack a common language), it seems that English is assuming that role all on its own.
I think it would be a great idea, but people probably won't do it. Even the EU won't promote a single lingua franca despite it unofficially being English. At the end of the day, English will probably become even stronger as the de facto world language.
I would rather see English evolve to become easier to learn and use.
As you go on to say, languages are organic. The broader and more geographically dispersed a language community becomes, the more simplified in forms, morphology, and vocabulary it becomes.
I would hate to see a conscious dumbing down of English being taught in textbooks, however.
There have been a number of artificial languages proposed over the years, but only Esperanto survived. I get the impression that Esperanto is a hobby for some people (as is Klingon-which wasn't intended as a lingua franca).
For non-Europeans, Esperanto is as hard as English, if not more so.
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