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