Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site brl-tgr.ARPA Path: utzoo!linus!gatech!seismo!brl-tgr!wmartin From: wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) Newsgroups: net.nlang,net.travel Subject: Re: Esperanto as a practical aid to the language barrier for travelers Message-ID: <2973@brl-tgr.ARPA> Date: Thu, 7-Nov-85 15:35:23 EST Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.2973 Posted: Thu Nov 7 15:35:23 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 9-Nov-85 05:54:12 EST References: <34@druny.UUCP> Organization: USAMC ALMSA, St. Louis, MO Lines: 37 Xref: linus net.nlang:3396 net.travel:1643 I'm sure learning Esperanto can be helpful, and certainly knowing at least one other language shows foreign nationals that you have more of an international outlook than most Americans, so that helps inspire a more friendly attitude on their part towards you. However, I'd appreciate seeing some more postings on the strictly practical aspects. The examples given in the base posting were from attending a conference on Esperanto itself, and attending a technical conference where Esperanto was explicitly one of the conference languages. Both of these strike me as artificial environments for language-utility evaluation. What about using Esperanto in a strictly practical and real-world situation? You are standing on a street corner in a foreign city. You know nothing of the local language; you only know English and Esperanto. You are buttonholing passers-by to get directions to find some place. Are you more likely in this case to find someone who knows or can understand your inquiry in English or in Esperanto? Pick a few random foreign (non-English-speaking) cities here -- let's see: Paris, Copenhagen, Rome, Oslo, Leningrad, Bangkok, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, Cairo... Any way you can predict in which Esperanto will be more useful than English? I could see that, in some at least, there will be a similarity of sounds and words between the local language and Esperanto, so that, to a native non-Esperanto-speaker, you will sound like someone speaking a "broken" dialect of their own language. That could be better than English, I'm sure. (It's just that I get the impression from Esperanto enthusiasts that there is more recognition or usage of it than the amount of references to Esperanto from outside that circle implies to me. Maybe this is due to the usual American insulation from foreign languages, but other info sources, like my interest in international shortwave broadcasting, leads me to the same conclusions. Esperanto broadcasts do exist, but they seem to be treated differently from broadcasts in "ordinary" languages, more as a "curiosity" or a token effort, than as a "for-real" service.) Will