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From: brg@netcom.com (Bruce R. Gilson)
Subject: Re: Experiment vs theory (was: Re: Single European language: *NOT* European english)
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Date: Thu, 21 Nov 1996 21:26:55 GMT
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In article <56mndc$e4j@harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au>,
Jiri Baum <jirib@molly.cs.monash.edu.au> wrote:
>Hello,
>
>M.G. Rison (mgr11@cus.cam.ac.uk) wrote:
>> Larisa Migachyov <miga0003@maroon.tc.umn.edu>:
>...
>> > However, Esperanto has no such patriotic incentive, and I don't think 
>> > that it is any easier to learn than, say, Spanish,
>...
>> > It is a nice 
>> > language, I'm sure - I don't speak it myself, so I don't know. 
>> 
>> Ah, that answers my first question.  Well, given that you're in
>> .edu, perhaps you should learn that experiment takes precendence
>> over theory.
>
>There's one problem with that: either one hasn't studied Esperanto,
>in which case one doesn't know the first thing about it, or one has,
>in which case one has learned it and became part of Esperantujo.

Actually, there is a third choice: One may have studied E-o, then perceived its
flaws and become a devotee of some other language.

Example: F. Peter Gopsill, formerly a certified E-o teacher, currently one of
the UK's foremost devotees of Interlingua.

Example #2: Nyegosh Dube, who, about 20 years ago, wrote a letter to an Ido
publication explaining how he found Ido so much easier than Esperanto, after
first having learned E-o.

I'm sure there are many others.

>In other words, those who have performed the experiment are - whether
>rightly or wrongly - perceived as not impartial.

Only if they are Esperanto partisans.


                                Bruce R. Gilson
                                email: brg@netcom.com
                                IRC: EZ-as-pi
                                WWW: http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/3141
                                (for language stuff: add /langpage.html)
