![Ian Carter](/img/default-banner.jpg)
- 16
- 476 873
Ian Carter
Приєднався 18 лис 2007
Eble jes, eble ne
"We may and might never" - traditional Irish farewell song, translated into Esperanto by Ian Carter.
Переглядів: 612
Відео
Venn Diagram question
Переглядів 4,7 тис.7 років тому
chesterfieldtutor.com - An exam question for GCSE Maths.
Logic Puzzle - Nenopolo's Cultural Festival
Переглядів 2177 років тому
Ĉu vi povas solvi la enigmon de la Nenopola Kulturfesto? Se vi volas provi vi mem, jen prespreta PDF-dokumento por elŝuti: bit.ly/2lprNMx
Mirinda Anaso (An Amazing Duck)
Переглядів 3277 років тому
Rakonto pri anaso kiu parolas, ktp A story about a duck that talks, etc. (English subtitles available)
Logika Enigmo: Neniejaj Studentoj
Переглядів 2847 років тому
Explaining in Esperanto how to solve a simple logic puzzle. Klarigo en Esperanto pri simpla logika enigmo.
Esperanto Interview on BBC Radio York
Переглядів 38 тис.8 років тому
eab@esperanto.org.uk - This interview between Ian Carter (of EAB - Esperanto-Association of Britain) and Jonathan Cowap (of BBC Radio York) was recorded on Monday, 25/1/16 and transmitted two days later.
EAB Nova Emblemo
Переглядів 4178 років тому
eab@esperanto.org.uk How the new logo for Esperanto-Asocio de Britio came about. The music is mine - called "Tim in a Box". English subtitles provided too.
Eta Mazgrev Little Musgrave
Переглядів 5829 років тому
eab@esperanto.org.uk - This is a well-known story, translated into Esperanto by the late Scottish poet William Auld and sung by me (Jano) at an Esperanto gathering in Epe, Netherlands, in 1978. It was a bit noisy in the bar, but someone stuck a mic up my nose and asked me to sing a few traditional British songs in Esperanto. I've recently discovered the remaining songs, and intend to upload the...
Tabelvortoj - 2a parto (rakonto)
Переглядів 4,8 тис.9 років тому
eab@esperanto.org.uk - This is a story, which includes most of the Esperanto correlative words in action. Part 1, the presentation, can be found here: ua-cam.com/video/lmK5EZYAQ6Q/v-deo.html
Tabelvortoj - 1a parto (prezento)
Переглядів 6 тис.9 років тому
eab@esperanto.org.uk - This is a presentation of the 45 correlatives in Esperanto - better called "tabelvortoj" because they can be arranged in a table. The second part is a story, which includes most of the words in action: ua-cam.com/video/a51aHuMEb5M/v-deo.html I've added English subtitles, by the way, for the benefit of those whose command of Esperanto is perhaps a little rusty (or even non...
Esperanto - Building a Language Bridge
Переглядів 126 тис.9 років тому
esperanto.org.uk - Two flat-mates build a bridge across their language differences.
Bill and Ben - Icicles
Переглядів 52 тис.11 років тому
iancarter.tv - A wintry episode of my childhood favourites, Bill and Ben, the Flower Pot Men. This went out on air on 23rd December, 1953, when my younger brother was just 3 days old! (I bet I watched this episode of "Watch with Mother", even though my mother was in hospital!)
Bill and Ben - Flying Boots
Переглядів 52 тис.11 років тому
iancarter.tv - Another episode from my childhood heroes, Bill and Ben, the Flower Pot Men. This episode aired on 26th March 1953.
Bill and Ben - Scarecrow
Переглядів 43 тис.11 років тому
iancarter.tv - Another episode from my childhood favourites, Bill and Ben. This episode was transmitted on 12th February 1953.
Bill and Ben - Musical Vegetables
Переглядів 134 тис.11 років тому
iancarter.tv - My childhood heroes - Bill and Ben. "Watch with Mother" featured: Mondays: Picture Book (boring) Tuesdays: Andy Pandy (wuss) Wednesdays: Bill and Ben, the Flower Pot Men (cool dudes with their own language) Thursdays: Rag, Tag and Bobtail (boring) Fridays: The Woodentops (not so bad - "especially the biggest spotty dog you ever did see") This episode was transmitted on 15th Janua...
aldoni la tekston, estas bona ideo kiel pligrandigxi la bildo
Nepre aldonu la tekston. Kaj bonvolu ŝanĝi la titolon. Tiu "yes" ŝiras la okulojn! ;-)
Dankon pro la sciigo. Tiun titolon mi preteratentis, ĉar mi preskaŭ dormis! La tekston mi jam aldonis en la komenta skatolo.
Ege plaĉas al mi vidi (kaj aŭdi), ke iu ŝatas kanti mian tradukon de tradicia irlanda kanzono. Ĝuste ĉi-jare, mi aldonis trian strofon al la kanto, kaj ĝojas dividi ĝin ĉi tie kun vi. (Fakte, mi tajpos ĉiujn 3 strofojn, tiel ke vi povu kunkanti! *EBLE JES, EBLE NE* 1. Geamikoj karegaj en la kompani’ Eklevu la voĉojn en ĥoro kun mi Ni estu gajegaj kaj ĝoju ni tre Eble jes, eble ne renkontiĝos ni re. (rekantaĵo) _Nun, je nia sano ni trinku amase_ _Kaj niajn plej karajn ni tostu samglase_ _Ni estu gajegaj kaj ĝoju ni tre_ _Eble jes, eble ne renkontiĝos ni re._ 2. Mi tostos la karan, kaj trinkos kun amo: Superas ŝi ĉiujn en belo kaj sano Ŝi ridas kaj sidas sur mia genu’ Neniam denove malgajos mi plu. (rekantaĵo) 3. Nia ŝip’ nun alvenas, bonvenigas haven’ Atingas ni dokon sen multa ĉagren’ Ĝis venonta revido sur ter’ aŭ sur mar’ En mia memor’ restos via bonfar’ (rekantaĵo)
Saluton Ian kai Jonathon. Dankon por vi interese mesago. Mi estas komensanto. Mi lernas Esperanto en Toowoomba, Qld. Australia. Ni havas multajn Esperantistojn en Australia. En Jan. 2017 mi visitas mi unuan Esperanton congreson en Brisbano. Vi havas una semanojn lescionojn- Bone! Duolingo kaj Amikumu estas mirinda. Gis revido! Claire.
Saluton al vi, Claire. Mi ĝojas, ke vi uzas Esperanton post tiom mallonga studado. Estas kelkaj eraroj, kompreneble, sed mi bone komprenas tion, kion vi diris al mi, kaj mi volas gratuli vin pro via progreso. Se vi volas, ke mi kontrolu tion, kion vi skribis, bonvolu sciigi al mi kaj mi tre ĝojos helpi vin. Ĝis baldaŭ! Jano
But They live in London
Well spotted. Please remember, this is only for purposes of explanation. They're not real people. The language is very real, though. And it works. Beautifully.
Esperanto is great. It is the best constructed language there is for its purpose (real communication). maybe the best constructed language for any purpose. to me personally I just have one problem with it. I guess I just do not like how it sounds. To me esperanto doesn't sound horrible... but it really was a missed opportunity to make something that sounds nice. Maybe this is just a problem for me. I am constructing a language that someday I hope can reach a fraction of the success of esperanto. The language right now is called Sendanil, though the name is subject to change, and the word has no meaning. I'm trying to make a language not only easy and practical to learn, but a language that is visually and audibly beautiful. I want to create a language that contains a set of values engrained in its very structure which advocate peace, wisdom, kindness, equality, and so on. Maybe someday when its done duolingo will put it on its website/ app so that it doesn't remain something thats just my own. I also have labored extensively on a script for it. Unfortunately what i have so far muchly resembles elvish, though it is inferior to tengwar. My problem is my ideal of a beautiful language and writing was essentially modeled off of what tolkien created. I speak german and spanish in addition to english, an bits of other languages, some mandarin chinese, and italian. I tried to make a mostly latin based language once, the result was something that too closely resembled spanish, italian, and esperanto, and was something i didn't like or find beautiful. So I started from scratch making something that was simply from my head, I Loved how it sounds, but its much too close to the sound of Sindarin Elvish, and it included sounds that are not commonly found in languages around the world, specifically the english th sound. I Need help and more opinions. I toy with the thought of making the ideal society as well. A city which is home to my language, and is used to experiment, "what is the best humanity has to offer" there for testing new ideas around government, technology, culture, architecture, etc. A city for the brightest future of humanity. If something is shown to work in this hypothetical city, it is to be applied to nations around the world. The benefit of having a place for a conlang to reside, is that it creates slang. something esperanto lacks, which supposedly (according to youtuber conlangcritic) can actually hinder a languages ability to function as an aux -lang. Anyway, I'm going to keep working on my language. I hope it goes somewhere someday. mi estas esperanton (i am one who hopes).
Who says Esperanto has no slang? Have you not seen the video by Evildea on that very topic? There are also swear/curse words that you can use, as well as pet names for genitals and all that kind of stuff. As for euphony, I understand why you might think it's not an outstandingly beautiful sounding language, but that tells me you haven't scratched much more that the surface. Esperanto poetry can be amazingly aesthetically pleasing, and it lends itself quite well to song - even translations of traditional British folk songs work quite well. And I myself translated a famous English song - *The Streets of London* - into Esperanto way back in 1975. Your idealism is commendable - and has some commonalities with Zamenhof's "internal idea" - and I really hope you manage to achieve your goals with it. Good luck!
Tre Bone
Is it just me or in every episode Slowcoach is in, he is weirdly nodding his head? XD
I remember Slowcoach nodding all the time -- v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y -- but then, if he didn't, how would we know he was awake -- or even alive?
True point mate
Wow I feel like I want to learn Esperanto now!
So what's stopping you?
I'm learning Esperanto using Duolingo! It's so easy and fun to learn!
Although, I'm having a hard time pronouncing "c"
It's like *TS*, so it can be tricky. In *Mi scias* I found it easier to break it down like this: *meest-SEE-as*. *Scienco" has two of them in it, but you can practise it by splitting the T from the S. Try it with the English word "bestseller", which has the tricky sound in the middle.
Ian Carter Ah thank you for replying and clarifying! I am currently learning Esperanto and is intrigued more every day I learn it. Dankon!
Vere, ne dankinde!
DAMN SON THE MUSIC IS HORRIBLE
Why? Because it's cheerful and repetitive?
Ian Carter no offense, but that's exactly why. mi ankoraux sxatis vian videon.
Ian Carter how do you start to learn Esperanto?
I picked up "Teach Yourself Esperanto" in Chesterfield Library, back in about 1966. The language fascinated me then and it still does.
thank you i myself am trying to learn Esperanto
Duolingo (phone app) is an excellent introduction to the language. If you'd like to study with perhaps a bit more structure, why not try the free taster course from EAB? I'm a study guide on that course, and would be delighted to help you with your studies.
can u translate for me what does ĈIO MAKIS DE ĈIO ALIA mean?
No, because there's no such verb as *maki* in Esperanto. I think you must be confusing it with *manki*, which means "to be lacking/missing". *Ĉio* means *everything*; *mankis* is the past tense, i.e. "was lacking"; *de* means "from"; and *alia* means "else/other". So the nearest I can get to a translation is "Everything was missing from everything else." Perhaps you can help me work out what it's supposed to mean? Where did you see it?
The first Esperanto speaker was no young eye-doctor when he conceived this language game. He was not yet 13 years old (the age when the natural infantlle linguistc creatvity disappears, when he, a native polyglot and a virtuoso of Pig Latm„ turned the language mechanism inside-out, replacing the concealing syllables by revealing. syllables. SO it was fhat Zamenhof serendipously discoverd ththat reciprocally language-creative toy, model with the totally strange code, still unexplained by the conventional grammarians. Valdas Banaitis from Lithua, the motherland of Zamenhof
I think you should take more care when you're copying someone else's ideas. There are so many typos in here - and none of them look like mere slips of the fingers ("infantlle linguistc creatvity", "Latm", "fhat", "serendipously discoverd", "ththat", "Lithua"). If you have something genuine to add to the conversation, all well and good. Otherwise, I'll have to block your input in future.
i dont like esperanto use of "j" in writings... it makes it look ugly
That, of course, is just your personal opinion (to which you're entitled). I can't see anything wrong with it at all. My spelling beef concerns Englisih - I don't like the *-ize* verb ending - I much prefer to spell it *-ise*. But that won't make any difference to the rest of the world, will it? The reason the letter *j* (pronounced like a *y*) is used for the plural of nouns and adjectives is that other options were already taken - e.g. *s* is a verb marker (*-as* = present; *-is* = past; *-os& = future; *-us* = conditional). Besides, I think Greek uses a *y* sound to mark plurals. (Greek UA-camrs please confirm.) If you really can't live with it, move on to a different language.
No - I dont mean I dont like Esperanto, I love it! I just dont like "j", that's all.
Mi nun lernas Esperanton. Dankon por ĉi tiu video.
Ne dankinde. Mi esperas, ke vi ĝuas vian studadon. (P.S. Check out the new app "AMIKUMU", which means "Let's be friends".)
Because that's not confusing if you speak a Scandinavian language (Swedish comes to mind), german, Spanish/Portuguese, and whatever else. Such a confusing mess
I speak English and am learning Swedish *and* Spanish. Esperanto doesn't confuse me at all.
These are the most british people ive ever bloody seen. Im american. this is why i consider british, australian and north american english different dialects of english
I'm struggling to understand what your comment relates to (with its near-total disregard for punctuation). You're right about the different dialects of English, but don't forget Indian English, Singaporean English, Philippine English and so on. By the way, have you ever noticed a connection between "English" and "England"? (Might be something in that!)
No hate ok I was just pointing out something interesting to me at least ok. And I was to lazy to type all the englishes. Reading my comment now I know it had a hateful tone I didn't mean it to sound like that. Also the american accent was actualy the origional accent.
No worries. I'll accept that American spelling is in many cases older than British spelling - that's because some stupid "clever" people here (c. 17th century) decided to show our debt to French, and stuck unwanted U's all over the place (color --> colour), as well as rearranging -ER to give -RE (theatre, centre, ...) When it comes to accents, though, it depends which American accent you're thinking of. It's true that the United States has such a wide range of regional accents that they outnumber even the many that we have here in the UK. But where did the Pilgrims' accents originate? And the Boston accent, which reminds many people of a British accent (but I'm not talking about RP or "Received Pronunciation" like the Queen's. It's a fascinating subject, and I would heartily recommend anything by *David Crystal* - particularly his _Encyclopedia of the English Language_.
This actually regressed me back to my childhood. I could see myself sitting in my old home in Western Australia in the late 1960s! What a shame I had to grow up!
I know exactly what you mean!
Dankon pro via tre interesa programo. Mi estas nuntempe lerni Esperanton kaj ĝi konsoladas min ke aliaj homoj parolas pri la lingvon.
Mi dankas vin, Jim, pro via komento. Notu, ke vi ne bezonas "estas" kun "lerni", ĉar "lernas" egalas al la simpla nun-tempo (angle: "learn/s") *kaj* al la daŭra nun-tempo ("am/is/are learning".) Kaj sufiĉe multaj personoj parolas kaj skribas en Esperanto, tiel ke vi mem povos trovi korespondanton kun kiu vi povos interŝanĝi retmesaĝojn, ktp.
I estas bonkapabla pri piedpilko
Did you mean "Mi estas ..."?
Looks very easy also for me (slavic), but not worth to learn when only 2 million people speak that language. If there are at least 100mil people who speak esperanto i would learn it too but 2 million is too low
"Too low" for what, exactly? How many people can you realistically communicate with at any given time? How many people speak Welsh, Scots Gaelic, or Erse? I think perhaps you're letting some kind of linguistic prejudice cloud your judgement.
nice one then everyone should learn to speak Chinese
@niceone - It's not just a numbers game, is it? Have people noticed that Esperanto is listed in Google Translate? Or that there's an entire Wikipedia in Esperanto? Or that LibreOffice allows you not only to type in Esperanto but also to sort data in Esperanto alphabetical order? I don't think those responsible would have gone to those lengths if they didn't feel it was worth it.
Peter Lyu haha
Are expandable compound words and modular suffixes really a good idea in a constructed language? I get that it allows for flexible word order, but it feels like such a mess. Why can't one word be one thing and never change? Mandarin does that and it seems like a relief honestly after trying to learn Spanish. The word order in Mandarin is rigid and mechanical as a result but at least it's extremely clear.
When you're talking about vocabulary, you quickly run into the kind of problems that Volapük met - assigning arbitrary monosyllables that are extremely hard to remember. Why not give Esperanto more than a brief try, and play around with sausage words, the way German does. Here's one to fathom: *naskiĝdatrevensalutkartoj* - a bit extreme, I grant you, but we shouldn't underestimate the importance of having fun.
It's waaay too spanish sounding. also its based on european languages meaning africans and arabs and asians will have a more difficult task learning it
Don't judge it until you've tried it yourself, locally and with speakers from the regions you listed. (Look out for the Amikumu app, released lated this month. Anyway, it's not just the usual European languages (Germanic and Romance): there's quite an amount of Slavic content in there. Not to mention compromises, such as "garden" in English and "jardin" in French being rendered in Esperanto as "ĝardeno", which preserves the Germanic look as well as the Romance sound. And, just for good measure, there's a certain amount of Chinese influence (search for Claude Piron's article about that on scribd.com).
When English people talk about modern foreign languages, it's still quite rare for them to stray outside the familiar Romance and Germanic languages. That situation is changing as more and more people start to delve into Croatian and the like. (Put it down to my age and generation if you like.)
Ricky I know Russian and Esperanto has been easy because some of the words are connected to Russian. Esperanto is basically all of Europe in one language.
That's something of an over-simplication, @Zuramaru. What about its Asiatic features (particularly relating to Chinese)?
Tf was not 'several years' used by 'a Jewish eye doctor' but at least a dozen, spent by a polyglot schoolchild, a virtuoso of Pig Latin,, in the borderline of Europe, dreaming of mutual understanding of people. By the way, why could not the interviewee a bit of a poem - Esperanto poetry started before the this language genome was launched and has hundreds of poets...t Valdas Banaitis from Lithua, the motherland of d-ro Esperanto, a heathen country till XVII century, with unwritten language.
Are you reading "several" = "seven"? Because "a dozen" still = "several". And I think a re-reading of the known facts - even in this post-truth world - would help you get things straight in your head.
Tre bona intervjuo :-)
Multajn dankojn.
thanxxxxxxxx Ian so much
You're very welcome!
***** aww u are very very sweet hugs
Nia bela lingvo.
Jes ja!
Dankon por via laboro... Bonvolu,, ĉu vi povas diri kiun aplikaĵon vi uzis por krei tiun "prezentaĵon"?
Ne dankinde ... tian laboron mi tre ŝatas. Nu, la ĉefa apo estas *Camtasia 9*, per kiu mi kunmetis la filmeton. Mian voĉon mi registris per *Audacity* (uzante mikrofonon *Shure SM58* tra USB-sonmiksilo *Yamaha Audiogram 6*). Mi aktuale prilaboras pli grandan kadron (kies latisoj enhavos po 25 ĉeloj). Temas pri *Nenieja Kulturfesto*.
Brila laboro! Mi antaughuas provi mem la venontajn ☺
Do mi devos pli rapide labori!
I'm fascinated, I congratulate you, Sir, for your video has become esperanta common culture. I'm Richard Warwickshire, a Venezuelan 15 year old who loves languages, and Esperanto has opened a lot of doors to me.
Congratulations.
If she's French and he's Russian, why would they speak English??
Because they share a flat in London...where English is the common language.
Yup, Esperanto was a great idea.
It still is - even more so these days. As a species we really must learn to communicate with one another, instead of relying on dysfunctional "politicians" to do it for us, and do it so badly!
***** We really do need a "synthetic language" because it voids all national-egoistic barriers ( for instance - I've noticed that many French, Spanish and Italian ppl knows English well, but they refuse to speak it , and they even get slightly insulted if you insist on it ) . Also, world would be much larger if we could communicate with Asians which is not likely to happen if learning horribly complicated Chinese/Japanese is required. An language that is artificial, relatively simple (you've said you've learned it in 3 months! ), above national pride/egoism would be a fair and perfect choice ! Thank for your enthusiasm Mr Carter, Salutojn el Serbio :)
I find this language really interesting and I would love to learn it. But the thing is I speak 3 languages fluently which are pretty different from one another (Turkish, English and French) and still I find Esperanto really complicated.. Any suggestions? Thank you for the video, have a nice day! ^^
What problems are you experiencing specifically with Esperanto? Maybe I can help.
Hi Ian, I'm currently doing an essay on whether or not Esperanto is an optimistic dream or solution to our world's problems. Would love to hear your input on it, if you have lots to say (which would be much appreciated) please drop me an email *****
I'm trying to get a message to you without making it totally public here. Please email me at ian[dot]carter[at]esperanto[dot]org[dot]uk.
It was cool to find out that one of the most famous game series ever, Final Fantasy, used esperanto in one of the game's soundtracks :) ua-cam.com/video/Ux9oaRljR8Q/v-deo.html
how do you say 22?
Simple - dudek du. That's (2 × 10) + 2.
1:59 Some of the numbers are similar with the romanian numbers, like unu (1), wich is exactly same, tri (3) is similar with trei (3) (and sometimes the romanians say tri, not trei), ok (8) is close to opt (8) and du (2) similar with doi (2)
I'm glad you've found something that you can latch onto to make learning Esperanto even easier. I hope you continue to be as fascinated by it as I am.
Thx, but in my country, idk if i'll see the eaperanto learned at school/high-school so early, there the base of forgein langauges is english (learned officialy from 3rd class) and next the french (from 5th class) and at high-school you can countinue with french, you can change it to german or leave both and stay only with english. This is for romanian langauge school sistem, by the hu (hungarian) language sistem (used in the countyes wich has high hu pop. idk, in german too (ok, almost of all germans left Romania). a funny thing is that even if the french langauge is 20% of our langauge, a latin like us, we loved it before 1945, etc. is hard to learn it for us....we're better at english
Esperanto is 10-15 times easier than English (as in how much time it takes to learn), and since you already know Romance languages the vocabulary will be really similar. You don't need to go to school to learn it, you can learn it at home on the internet.
I'm glad I decided to learn this language lol
I'm delighted to hear it. If you have any queries, just shoot them in my direction, OK?
Ian Carter yeah, i have one question, will me finishing learning this language help me with other languages? if so what languages will it help me with? also i got an english-esperanto dictionary to help my studies!
Yes indeed. You'll find it so much easier to pick up any other language once you've got Esperanto in place (although you never actually "finish" learning a language, you know). The Romance languages (like French, Spanish and Italian) will be really easy, and the Germanic ones won't be too bad. Scandinavian languages will also be quite easy for you. Some languages will require you to learn a new script (such as Russian, Arabic or Korean) but I think you'll enjoy the challenge. You see, what Esperanto does is to heighten your awareness of how words work, both on their own and in sentences, then in paragraphs, then in whole works. It's fascinating! One word of caution about your English-Esperanto dictionary - when you look up a word in one half of the dictionary, particularly English to Esperanto, always double check in the other half to make sure you've got the right meaning. An example: don't forget that "peep" can be a way of looking, or it can be a tiny sound made by a bird. In John Wells's fantastic bilingual dictionary, "peep" is translated by *ekrigard-i*, *ŝtelrigard-i*, *gvat-i*, *-o*; (sound) *pepo*; (kind of bird) *kalidro*. If your dictionary doesn't give you this many options, please be extra careful to double-check. Finally - good luck with your studies!
Just posted a long reply to your question, but forgot to highlight your username. I hope you find it.
Ian Carter thanks for answering!
Mi kamas al cxi tiu videon post kompletante esperantan lecionon sur Duolingo!
Good try, +Sean. I hope you don't mind if I tweak it a bit to make it more appropriate? "Mi venis al ĉi tiu filmeto post mi finis esperantan lecionon ĉe Duolingo." Mi esperas ke vi studos eĉ plu! (= "I hope that you will study even further")
***** Not at all, after rereading my post, I'm laughing at how I took "I came from..." into "mi kamas..." Still a lot to learn it seems, thanks!
Los invito a que escuchen "Kiel lentoj" música en esperanto
¿Dónde podemos encontrar esta música, por favor? Kie ni povas trovi tiun muzikon, mi petas? Where can we find this music, please?
100th comment
I don't understand the need for all the negative comments in this thread... It may not be a widely known language, but the goal is to bridge cultural gaps and remove language barriers. I am guessing that Esperanto developed out of the essence of the romantic languages, shaped in a way to take all the European languages into account. I still do not see it widely used, but that is maybe because people are also starting to pick up the different "traditional" languages. Mr. Carter, you may have a better explanation than me as to why Esperanto is not widespread yet, but it is definitely a language that has fascinated me and I'll look forward to learning!
@Abhi Mohan - I gave a brief explanation in my interview with BBC Radio York (ua-cam.com/video/eLYrFkbkUKk/v-deo.html) as to why Esperanto has been held back at frequent points during its 130-year history. But don't let that stop you taking it up. It's provided me personally with about 50 years of fun, enjoyment and wonder, so I'm sure it could do the same for you.
People love to say why something is not possible or why something cannot be done, even if they are not educated on the subject.
The language seems to be really cool but the point is: no one speaks it, sadly.
How many do you need? I attended the 100th World Conference in Lille (France) in 2015 along with over 2,500 others. I would have found it quite difficult to talk to them all, even if I were the gregarious type. Even if you only ever use it with one other person from a totally different linguistic background, that's surely worth the minimal effort expended on learning it. Don't give up before you've given it a good try. (The new app Amikumu [Let's be friends] should help a little with this.)
Aloc mi faras, jajaja
"I do" is a very convenient short form in English, but unfortunately, it can't be translated so simply into Esperanto. You have to repeat the verb (+ direct object) so that people will be sure to understand you. (English speakers take it for granted that foreigners will understand "I do" and "I will", even to the point of trying to sound informal by saying "I'll" on its own, which of course is not grammatical English.) (Sorry - once a teacher ...) In short, you should say "Mi parolas ĝin".
Ian Carter Ok 👌. Mi petas pardono.
Ne necesas peti pardonon. Tiu, kiu neniam eraras, neniam lernas! (No need to apologise. The person who never makes a mistake never learns!) (I always tell my students that the only stupid question is the one you don't ask.)
Mi lernas Esperanton en Vietnamio
Mi gratulas vin. Bonŝancon!
What's your opinion of Lojban?
I haven't had time to delve into Lojban in any great detail, but what worries me about it is that it may be too clinical, too logical to suit the human brain, which uses fuzzy logic and lateral thinking and the like. Given more time to study it (unlikely) I would probably come to understand what it's all about much more than I do now, so please don't take this as my definitive answer.
Hint: play in x1.25
Mr. Carter, I was wondering something a few things the personal pronouns. It seems a little funny to me that personal pronouns end in i and not o. Personal pronouns are nouns, so it would seem to me to be conistent they should end in o. Although, I feel it would be better for the o to be added onto the i rather than replace the i, because that would keep the pronouns more familiar with speakers of English and other European languages. Mio/ I Mion/me, With adjectival form add an "a" instead mia/ my/mine. I also feel like it could be easier to teach people the grammar and how it relates to one another by making the pluarl form take the -j ending of the singular form. Mioj, vioj, lioj, sxio, gxio, onioj, sioj As a native English speaker, I may be a little biased, but I feel that leaving out the formal "you" was a good idea for the language. However, keeping the singular the same for the plural seems like a silly idea.Because this the pluarl you is present in several European languages. Another benefit I could see from using this system is that one could preserve the cultural gender-codings present in other languages. In Spanish, for example , ellas exclusive a group females, where ellos could mean a mixed group or exculsive male. However, in English, ellas and ellos would just get translated "they". Esperanto could easily avoid this lexical gap in translation and keep the language more regular. Is there a historic reason you know of why Zamenhof decided to not end personal pronouns in o and why he decided to not have a plural you? Despite inheriting the "generic male" nouns from the 19th century, I feel Esperanto could equalized people. I see a lot of nationalism in the form of language where people will say things such as "This is America ; speak English!" I really appericate the idea of nationless language. If L. L. Zamenhof was alive today I feel he would very much appericate the idea of bitcoin and other cyrptocurrencies to make international nationless currencies.One I learned of recently is called monero has it focuses more on anomnity than bitcoin. Where there any old attempts to have an international currency?
Thank you for your comment. You've obviously given it a lot of thought. Firstly, pronouns are not nouns: they stand in for nouns, mainly to avoid unnecessary repetition. They are a closed system, and therefore it's perfectly logical for them to have a different ending from that of nouns. You're correct, by the way, in assuming that the adjectival form is mia, via, etc. As for leaving out the "plural" of you, I'm afraid you've got that wrong. "Vi" was originally the plural (and therefore polite) version, with the singular (familiar) being "ci". However, users of Esperanto didn't find "ci" particularly useful, and it has more or less disappeared from the language - in much the same way as "thou" has in English (other than dialectal). If you read the comments on this video, you'll see there's quite a bit of emotional unrest about the 3rd person pronouns being sexist. You'll also read my own thoughts there. Your final question about an international currency is easy to answer. Back in the 70s (I think) there was a suggestion that we could have the "stelo" (no prizes for guessing why) but it didn't take off. It's interesting now to see the "monero" project, especially as that's the Esperanto word for "coin". My advice to you would be to drop any idea of reforming what is not a project, but a perfectly well functioning language (I take it you wouldn't dream of telling the Italians how to improve their language ... or would you?)
***** Thank you for your response. It was quite informative. Thanks for your thoughts. As for reforming the language, I wouldn't really be in favor of pushing a new Esperanto, as you say it has a dedicated community, and even if you convenience enough "authorities" on Esperanto to make any change it will probably do more harm to the language than good . As far as I understand the major Spanish of Spain and Latin America institutions came together for spelling reform, a few years ago, but a sizable portion is ignoring the reforms.Just find some features odd. With its considerably smaller number of Esperanto speakers you'll still see people for one reason or another disagree and the community will splinter even for just not knowing. From what I know of Volpuk, despite being somewhat convoluted (basing this on commentary, not a first hand look at the language) people liked the idea of a universal language, but had disagreements about the language's structure and people didn't know what the standard version was. It was probably be the same with Esperanto, if such changes were attempted. So as far as pointing out weird things of Italian if I felt something was odd, I would have no problems saying it. Would I expect people to change? No. There are plenty of things I find odd about English. For example, a lot of English relies on context. Just seeing the word "rose" it could mean that it's used as the verb or the flower. If gender or grammatical reform was to happen, it would more or less have to be done through creating a whole new language rather than changing from within.You would have different camps of Esperanto like "Standard Esperanto","Gender-Neutral Esperanto" "Logical Esperanto" and that kind of defeats the point of forming a universal language. Then you would have probably have more splits on those. Esperanto as international businesses language could be very useful. I mean, yes, many people speak some English, but not all, and not all as well.Esperanto even disregarding the egalitarian idealism, makes a lot of sense to study. I understand some basics in just a few minutes of studying. (I hope to learn much more.) That's less time someone has to spend learning language to speak to someone, or less money used hiring someone to translate when more complicated issues are brought up. I never understood why I had to spend 12 years of schooling taking classes that is my native language, but if I think about it there was/is still probably elements I didn't understand fully. I feel that people are a bit unfair to Esperanto and it's development. Esperanto didn't grow on the back of Imperialist empires. Esperanto never its version of the "welsh knot". Many countries only speak English or French because they had people enforcing their languages. How far would English or French spread if their armies didn't follow?People make a distinction between languages such as English and French as "natural", but how organic was the spread of English in India? People treat AAVE simply another form of English, and use to justify racism against blacks in America n some cases.General American is no more correct, and yet because it has more less the dialect of the rulers, that is the one that is taught. The growth of English only stands to speak of its perspective countries spheres of influence and domains. Thanks again for your response.
New bucket list item: Put on a very ambiguous accent Pretend to be foreign by speaking Esperanto
Nice try. Already been done.
10,000th view
Excellent. Thank you.