I was just wondering if anyone else was familiar with the language “Esperanto”. I first heard about it some time ago, but I have been fascinated by it ever since.
It is meant as an “International” language to facilitate international communication. It is culturally neutral (but see more below). And it is said you can learn it in one tenth the time it would take you to learn another language. (To learn more, please use this link.)
It seems its inventor, a Polish physician named Dr. LL Zamenhof, was troubled by the ethnic divisions and prejudices in the border town he lived in. And although he didn’t think language was the only dividing force, it certainly seemed the “mortar” in the “wall” that separated everyone. Having a natural talent in the area of languages, he invented Esperanto in 1887.
Streamlined and completely “regular”, Esperanto is based on simple Romance and Germanic roots. Nouns end in “o”. Adjectives end in “a”. And additional endings are used to denote case and number. Verbs have only several simple forms. And the pronounciation of Esperanto is very easy to pick up (people who hear it for the first time often say it reminds them of Spanish.)
As I said, Esperanto is said to be culturally-neutral–anyone can use it. But quite a culture has built up around the “brotherhood” of people who speak it nonetheless. If you speak it and go to any city in the world, it is said a representative will immediately greet you there and show you around.
I don’t personally speak it, but I know it is easy to find materials that teach you how to speak it. Any public library would probably have at least one book on it. Or as I said you could go to their home page at this link.
BTW, contrary to what some people think, Esperanto is not meant to replace everyone’s language in some type of new world order. It is simply meant as an “universal second language”. It is hoped everyone will keep their culture’s first language and then learn Esperanto as second language. So everyone then will be able to communicate with each other–get it?
I predict the appearance of both Monty and matt_mcl in this thread. Yes, I am aware of Esperanto, the universal language that I have heretofore failed to master.
While we’re waiting for the Canajun Esperantist to arrive, I just want to note that I have a periodic relationship with Esperanto. About once a year or so, I generally go to the online courses and get through about seven or eight lessons before finding my free time drifting in other directions. Then I spend the other 10 months or so gently and gradually forgetting all the Esperanto I learned. And then I start again.
Not entirely surprising… extensive and unreliable demographic research amongst my Esperanto group revealed that the median Esperantist is a gay vegetarian computer programmer called Ian.
I’ve been independently studying the language on and off for the past two years (as well as independently studying German and Russian, and studying French and Spanish at school, so you can understand where “on and off” comes from :)). As a testament to its ease, I’ve been fascinated with the French language since I was 7 years old and started taking classes for it four years ago. I’m still taking French classes (advanced placement, I might add) and I still can’t speak French as well as I can Esperanto.
Hej!
Ne forgesu la aliajn kanadajn esparantistojn!!!
And the other proof that Esperanto has arrived is that I’ve gotten spam in it.
Yeah, I know. matt_mcl gets the charisma, the wild nightlife, and the stories to tell his adopted grandchildren. I get dubious advertising from Chinese plastic-tubing manufacturers. Where is justice?
Member of ELNA and the UEA checking in. I get magazines on a regular basis from the US, UEA headquarters, and Russia on a regular basis. Don’t read all the articles but I read what I can. And I couldn’t read Russian this well in the same amount of time. If you’re a language geek like the bunch of us here, Esperanto is definitely worth the effort.
speaking as SDMB staff
BTW - the staff doesn’t want to start seeing a whole series of posts in different languages. Of course this thread is pretty harmless, but when we allow it here, it may happen that someone in another thread will use it to post something inappropriate or offensive in a foreign language and point to this thread as an example of why s/he thought it was allowed.
My personal preference would be to see a translation to english included along with the foreign language. end of SDMB staff speech
Now, back to esperanto - I have a DVD that claims “Incubus - the only movie ever filmed in Esperanto - starring William Shatner!”
The title and “starring William Shatner” part are of course indisputable, but I’m not 100% convinced it’s the only movie ever filmed in Esperanto. As you might expect, the movie is something you would expect to see figured on Mystery Science Theater 3000.
I got into Esperanto a little because of the British SF-comedy series Red Dwarf. The hologram character Rimmer is trying to learn Esperanto through a vid series like those tapes where you try to learn the language:
Mi provas kia vi venos, la vetero estos milde I hope when you come, the weather will be clement
Rimmer is trying to get these, but his bunkmate Lister keeps saying the translation ahead of him. After several tries, where he mistakes “La mangajo estis bonega; mi kuirayn gratulan a la kuiristo!” (“The meal was splendid; my heartiest congratulations to the chef!”) as “I would like to purchase that orange beachball and that small bucket and spade!”
Inkubo is not the only movie filmed in Esperanto… When I was at KEF2000 I saw one called Angoroj that was made in France around the same time as Inkubo. It was a rather unpleasant specimen of film noir.
There are various videos and things available; for example, the online catalogue of the Flanders Esperanto League has 17 videos for sale. (Select ‘Vidbendoj’ from the listbox and press ‘Montru la petitan liston’). Most of these videos cost approcimately 30 euros and are in VHS and PAL. (The first one in the list is a travelogue about the Swiss Alps.)
The thinly-spread demographics of the Esperanto-speaking world would seem to work against gathering the kind of concentrated resources needed to make a movie… videos can be created and distributed on a much lower budget, so it’s no wonder that they’re more common.
My guess is, Inkubo was probably the only American movie filmed with traditional techniques (i.e. not in video), and given theatrical release, with all the dialogue in Esperanto.
Esperanto’s been used for effect in other films; it’s great for creating a foreign atmosphere on a budget. In the SF movie Gattaca of a few years ago, all the background announcements in Gattaca City were bilingual, Esperanto then English.
GRR!! Double post! And I checked after I tried to cancel my first post, to see whether it had reached the board. I guess I was just a little too fast for the update.
The crimson short one is in fact a bilingual ship - the two languages being English and Esperanto. That’s why you always see “Level” followed by the level number and “Nivelo” immediately underneath on board the ship.
There are other in-jokes like that, such as the name of the crashed exploration vessel (the SS Esperanto) in “Back to Reality.”
Harry Harrison’s “Stainless Steel Rat” series often has references to Esperanto, and there is usually an address at the end of the book where one can write to learn more about it.
The Birth of the Stainless Steel Rat was translated into Esperanto, and published by Sezonoj in Russia (I have a copy, ordered from FEL). I believe the same publisher also did a translation of The Lord of the Rings.
<pause>
Here it is! Sezonoj and the page listing translations from the English: The Streets of Ashkelon (Harry Harrison); Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll); The Hound of the Baskervilles (Arthur Conan Doyle); The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkien). Warning: odious pop-under ads for gambling.
