lifebouy's Journal: Esperanto

Wow. It is truly amazing how strongly people feel about Esperanto. My last few posts got an incredible response. Some was positive, and some negative, but very extremely polarized.

I try to spread knowledge of Esperanto because I believe in the ideals, and because the more people who speak it, the more I get to use it. But I speak Esperanto because it's a fun and inexpensive hobby. The return on the time investment is very high. If everyone stopped writing things in Esperanto right now, I could read until I died and still not finish it all. But people are still writing. And generally, posting their work on the net. So, free reading material. And not just garbage- often it's the masterpieces translated from other languages, to which I'd never be exposed otherwise.
Now, I understand when someone says they aren't interested, or don't have time, or just dislike the idea. But people really get upset and offended by it! Ok, I admit, I do provoke. A little, teensy bit. But, still...

Often I hear or read, "Oh that's that made-up language." Yep, and so was Greek. Alexander the Great (supergenius that he was) made up Greek to be a common language for the lands he conquered. We are still absorbing the Greek language into English today. Simply because a language didn't "evolve" or didn't come down from the Tower of Babel doesn't negate it's validity or usefulness or appropriateness. That would be like dismissing the automobile as a means of transportation based on the fact that it didn't have a horse pulling it. Oh wait- that did happen, at first. Hmmm.

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Greek was not "made up"

[lifebouy]

Apologies for not checking to see if it was fact. Everyone's guilty occasionally of looking like a fool. Thanks for letting me know.