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From: Nick Rezmerski <rezm0001@gold.tc.umn.edu>
Subject: Re: ESPERANTO - SPAM SPAM SPAM, SPAM SPAM SPAM
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References: <donhD3v8EG.275@netcom.com> <3hn0q5$h6g@fido.asd.sgi.com> <5gHLE_IGaJB@alnilam.toppoint.de>
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 17:12:01 GMT
Lines: 71

mintaka@alnilam.toppoint.de (Bernd P.F. Kassler) wrote:
> 
> a normal history of learning languages:
> (at least in north germany)
> 
> first language: saxonian (or PLATT) that's what all your neighbours and
>                 your parents talk.
> 
> second language: high german; thats what they talk in TV
> 
> third language: english, thats what you need if you want to travel in
>                 europe or to become a scientist
> 
> fourth language: french; thats what you need to read modern philosophers
>                 or literature
> 
> fifth labguage: latin; if you want to go to university and study in the
>                 philosophical faculty
> 
> sixth language : danish (or whatever your neighbouring country is) that you
>                 are able to buy bread and vegetables when crossing the
>                 border. (or when you want to study in Aalborg)
> 
> seventh language: russian/chinese/japanese or whatever, if you want to make
>                 some profit in these countries.
> 
> and now you come up with Esperanto: SPAM !
> 
> Your neighbours don't talk it, it's not spoken in the TV, its not spoken  
> in the scientific community, no poems or philosophies are written in it,  
> no ancient texts are written in it, you cant buy vegetables with it in  
> Jylland, and no-one of your business-friends speaks it.
> 
> So, dear fans of Esperanto, name one reason to learn it !!!
> 
> [miscellaneous volapukajxoj deleted...] 
> 
> mintaka@toppoint.de..............................(Bernd P.F. Kassler)
> Fr. Nietzsche: _______________     Man muss noch Chaos in sich haben,
>                                 um einen tanzenden Stern zu gebaeren.

Okay, how about this dialogue:

[English-speaker]: Hey everybody, instead of spending 10-12 years learning
German, French, Latin, Danish, Russian and/or Chinese and/or Spanish and/or
Japanese, why don't we all spend a couple of years learning Esperanto
so we can all talk to each other about German TV, travelling in Europe,
science, philosophy, and business overseas.  Then we can stop and visit
an Esperantist I know in Denmark who will buy us some bread!

[north Germans]:  ???  Was sagt er?

The point is, the time investment in learning one common language is
less than for learning a half-dozen or more.  The time investment for
learning Esperanto is less than for other languages.

True, my neighbors don't speak it yet.  True, it's not spoken on the
television yet.  But it *is* spoken in the scientific community to
some degree, there *are* poems and philosophies written in it, there
*are* people who use it for business.  It's clearly a living language.

..and of course no ancient people had the foresight to write in an 
international language that hadn't been invented yet.

As for buying vegetables, so what?  I can buy vegetables using my
native language, English.  Esperanto isn't intended to be used for
tasks you can accomplish in your native language.

  - Nick@Nite (Nikolaso on irc/#esperanto)
    rezm0001@gold.tc.umn.edu

