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From: dik@cwi.nl (Dik T. Winter)
Subject: Re: Esperanto (was: Languages in the EC)
Message-ID: <D4pytG.My0@cwi.nl>
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References: <3ileh8$6hg@lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk> <D4oJo2.L9I@spss.com> <3ivf77$rvb@lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk>
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 16:51:16 GMT
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In article <3ivf77$rvb@lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk> rison@hep.phy.cam.ac.uk writes:
 > En la artikolo <D4oJo2.L9I@spss.com>,
 > Mark Rosenfelder <markrose@spss.com> skribis:
 > 
 > > As for translating costs, presumably what you have in mind is (say) the
 > > amount my company spends creating French, Spanish, German, and Japanese
 > > versions of its software.  At first sight it seems like we could save 1/4
 > > of that expense.
 > 
 > Well, perhaps that and also the costs of translating business letters,
 > answering helpline calls, etc...

Maybe not even that.  Even if Esperanto was the major second language there
will be enough people that do not speak it around.  Yes, there are still
people that never get to learning a foreign language.  If they need a manual
it should be in the native language.
 > 
 > > And even in
 > > the EU, perhaps a large number of our customers won't learn Esperanto at
 > > all,
 > 
 > Perhaps.  Again, this depends on implementation.

No, it does not depend on implementtion.  There are people that never learn
a second language, period.
...
 > > Plus, what are the costs of educating entire continents to be fluent
 > > in Esperanto?
 > 
 > Certainly not more than the current cost of language teaching, at least
 > within the EU.
 > 
More.  Or do you want to start teaching Essperanto to the 10 year old now?
Than you will have the problem that the younger people are not able to
talk across the border with the older people.  So, while they are able to
speak Esperanto perfectly, but are not able to buy something in the shop
because the shopholder does not understand them.
-- 
dik t. winter, cwi, kruislaan 413, 1098 sj  amsterdam, nederland, +31205924098
home: bovenover 215, 1025 jn  amsterdam, nederland; e-mail: dik@cwi.nl
