Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!floyd!vax135!ariel!houti!hogpc!houxm!hocda!spanky!burl!we13!ihnp4!ixn5c!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcs!uicsl!wombat From: wombat@uicsl.UUCP Newsgroups: net.nlang Subject: Re: Re: Any esperantists out there? - (nf) Message-ID: <2406@uiucdcs.UUCP> Date: Wed, 13-Jul-83 05:52:39 EDT Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.2406 Posted: Wed Jul 13 05:52:39 1983 Date-Received: Fri, 15-Jul-83 12:32:28 EDT Lines: 25 #R:burl:-23200:uicsl:8600009:000:1333 uicsl!wombat Jul 12 23:18:00 1983 I've always thought Esperanto was a neat language. You can get a book called "Teach Yourself Esperanto" and learn the grammar in spare time in less than a week. (And that's *all* of the grammar.) >From then on, all you have to do is build up some vocabulary. There are people all over the world who can speak "esperante." They have magazines written in it, as well as original literature. International pen pals abound; they meet through the magazines or through Esperanto conventions. Some families share only Esperanto as a common language; this has been going on long enough for children to be brought up with Esperanto as a first language. A physics professor here teaches a course called "Non-Western Linguistic Structure" which consists of a history of constructed languages and a quick course in speaking/reading Esperanto. Is interesting subject. Esperantists would like to see the language become a sort of lingua franca. They consider it a "neutral" language (though Asians don't see it that way). It also has an easily learned grammar. Words are built up from lots of smaller roots -- it's acceptable to make up a word from roots you know if you don't happen to know another word for something. And it's perfectly regular. None of English's "i before e except ..." nonsense. Wombat pur-ee!uiucdcs!uicsl!wombat