August 22, 2012 10:15 am
How to Learn a Language Nobody Speaks
In fact, good sir, I have no idea what you’re saying. Image: Lovelorn Poets
The quest for a Universal language has produced some interesting options. Turns out, it’s really hard to produce a language everyone can, and will speak. At io9 they recently chronicled a few attempts at such a language.
For the music lovers, there was Soresol. To make sure no one language was advantaged in learning Soresol, its creator, Fancois Sudre, based the sounds on musical tones. Each tone had a color and a symbol. You write a word by combining them – just like you combine syllables in English. “So, for example re-si-mi-re is brother. I could write that with a musical score. I could write it by writing the number 2732,” io9 writes. “I could write it by using crayons and making lines of orange-pink-yellow-orange.”
Soresol is actually one of the few attempts at a universal language that got much traction. It actually garnered some popularity, and Sudre taught it to his followers. But you’ve probably never heard of it. You might have heard, instead, of one of its successors: Esperanto.
Developed by a Polish physician, Esperanto is quite simple, which might be why it’s one of the most widely spoken of these languages. Somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 people speak it around the world. It’s even recognized by UNESCO. In the United States, the group Esperanto-USA tries to spread the word about the language. Here’s a video that will teach you some beginning Esperanto:
And, perhaps as a sign of true success, it has offshoots, called Esperantidos. One of them, Ido, is essentially a simpler version of Esperanto.
There are loads of other artificially created languages. Io9 lists a few more: Occidental came from sailors, Afrihili is one of the few that originated in Africa, rather than Europe, and Sambahsa-Mundialect is the most recent, released in 2007.
Other people argue that rather than constructing a universal language we should simply designate one we already have and make everyone learn it. Some argue that English should be that language. There are already somewhere between 800 million and 1.8 billion English speakers on the planet.
But others argue that the the diversity of languages is a good thing. An organization called Cultural Survival estimates that there are between 3,000 and 6,000 languages spoken on earth, and the vast majority of them are spoken by indigenous people. About half of those languages are spoken by fewer than 10,000 people, says the Foundation for Endangered Languages. And one language, Ayapaneco, is only spoken by two people… and they don’t like each other very much.
Regardless, we’re heading towards fewer languages these days. Experts estimate that within two generations a huge number of those endangered languages will die out. But the question is whether they should be replaced with these universal ones. Chances are, they won’t catch on. All of these languages have their challenges. While io9 is referring here to Esperanto, it applies to all these languages:
Since it’s nobody’s native tongue, it relies on people’s willingness to learn it as a second language. Few people are motivated to do that unless there are already a great deal of people also willing to learn it, and so it seems to be spiraling down, not up. One good kick from people around the world and it might yet become a common language, but to do that it has to overcome its homegrown demons.
Let’s face it, you probably can’t even read the menu at the local Italian place – why would you to learn a whole new language that no one speaks. Especially when your dinner doesn’t depend on it.
More from Smithsonian.com:
Babies Raised Bilingual Get Language Benefits
People Are More Rational When Speaking in a Foreign Language
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18 Comments »
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Thank you for including Esperanto Estas video in your article. Smithsonian Magazine has been known to report on Esperanto occasionally, with one big one in the year 1986–pre computer–as Esperanto approached its one hundredth birthday. The Esperanto community has long for stood for improved democracy, universal education, and literacy for all.
Thousands of American and British Esperanto speakers seek new ways to express our message. The internet has allowed an Esperanto revival with many thousands of young speakers on-line 24/7 around the world. I have traveled to 36 countries using mostly Esperanto. In the USA we maintain a larger office near San Francisco and a smaller office near the UN, for relations with that institution. For more information: http://www.esperanto-un.org or http://www.esperanto-usa.org
Comment by Neil Blonstein — August 22, 2012 @ 7:08 pm
One of the most annoying put-downs of Esperanto (10,000 to 20,000 speakers worldwide!) and also of the human race (why would you *learn* *anything* if your dinner didn’t depend on it?!) that I’ve ever seen. The Smithsonian Institution should be profoundly embarrassed to have its name associated with such a breezy attack on human decency (as well as on a language I love and use daily).
The level of misinformation boggles the mind. Only place I can think of she could have got that speaker population figure would be by assuming that most all Esperanto speakers are members of a single Facebook group!
Comment by Leland Bryant Ross (aka 呂須•春男) — August 22, 2012 @ 7:17 pm
Hm. There are plenty of languages that literally no one speaks that are much harder than Esperanto. How about that language in Oregon in which the last speaker died a couple months ago? You really need to shoot higher than the (extremely conservative) estimate of 10 or 20 thousand speakers.
Comment by Keith Bowes — August 22, 2012 @ 7:27 pm
It is also false to say (even while passing the buck to io9) that “it’s nobody’s native tongue”. While native Esperanto speakers probably don’t number even 10,000, they are not nonexistent. The German ambassador to Russia Ulrich Brandeburg, Nobel laureate Daniel Bovet (1957, Medicine), billionaire George Soros, to name three of the most prominent and well-documented.
Comment by Leland Bryant Ross (aka 呂須•春男) — August 22, 2012 @ 7:48 pm
I’m never in favor of unsigned blogs, as they lead to what we read above- poor research, incorrect information, and arrogant attitude. And does the Smithsonian have editors or fact checkers? Since the blog is unsigned, perhaps we should suppose that it is the official position of the Smithsonian. That would be even more disappointing than viewing this inaccurate and smug article as an aberration.
Comment by Vere Nekoninda — August 22, 2012 @ 8:32 pm
The writer’s opinion presented about Esperanto notwithstanding, I have to agree with the last poster: this is pretty shoddy writing for The Smithsonian. Take a close look at this paragraph, for instance:
“Soresol is actually one of the few attempts at a universal language that got much traction. It actually garnered some popularity, and Sudre taught it to his followers. But you’ve probably never heard of it. You might have heard, instead, of one of its successors: Esperanto.”
Actually, this whole article actually needs some actual editing by a successor who actually can teach successful actual writing to this writer who we will probably never hear from again.
Comment by Steve Wagenseller — August 23, 2012 @ 12:21 pm
Esperanto is more widespread than people imagine. It is now in the top 100 languages, out of 6,800 worldwide. It is the 29th most used language in Wikipedia, ahead of Danish and Arabic. It is a language choice of, Skype, Firefox, Ubuntu and Facebook and Google translate recently added this international language to its prestigious list of 64 languages.
Native Esperanto speakers, (people who have used the language from birth), include World Chess Champion Susan Polger, Ulrich Brandenberg the new German Ambassador to and Nobel Laureate Daniel Bovet. Financier George Soros learnt Esperanto as a child.
Esperanto is a living language – see http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8837438938991452670
Their online course http://www.lernu.net has 125 000 hits per day and Esperanto Wikipedia enjoys 400 000 hits per day. That can’t be bad
Comment by Brian Barker — August 23, 2012 @ 2:43 pm
Whether the writer likes it or not, Esperanto is set to be an important language unless one does not love his/her children and the future of it.
http://www.mondeto.com/1/post/2011/09/immediate-and-lasting-advantages-of-early-esperanto-1-brain-building.html
Comment by Sinjoro ENG — August 24, 2012 @ 6:14 am
I recently had an online conversation which involved people from Germany, China, Serbia, Italy, the USA and Britain, all using Esperanto. That doesn’t sound like a language that no one speaks.
Comment by Richard Hall — August 24, 2012 @ 7:18 am
Smithsonian has made available the most important book in the history of the USA-based Esperanto movement.
Mario Pei was a popular linguist and wrote a book on the subject some decades back. http://www.esperantofriends.blogspot.com/2012/06/smithsonian-and-mario-peis-important.html
Comment by Neil Blonstein — August 24, 2012 @ 9:01 pm
As has been pointed out in previous comments, there is a lot of misinformation about Esperanto in this article. There are an estimated 2 million speakers of the language in the world today (conservatively). I heard estimates as high as 10 million, but I don’t think it’s that high.
Also, there are an estimated 200 “native speakers” of the language now. It used to be a joke to say “I speak Esperanto like a native…” but it is no longer a joke.
And unlike other devised/constructed languages, there are around 40,000 publications in the language, some of which have been continuous for over 70 years. Plus regular radio broadcasts from China Radio International, Radio Poland, and even the Vatican. Speaking which, even the Pope has addressed gatherings in Esperanto.
I personally have been speaking the language since 1980 and communicate with people all over the world in Esperanto. It is a VAST community and the internet was like gasoline for the language.
Comment by Lee Lewis — August 24, 2012 @ 9:36 pm
The headline is insulting! I speak Esperanto; I am not nobody. The inaccuracies in the article are well explained in previous comments. As for the ‘why would you learn …?’ question – why spend 7 years studying French, Spanish, German or anything else, when there are so few places in the world where any one of them is any use?
Comment by Stephen Thompson — August 25, 2012 @ 3:05 am
Why do you misinform the readers?
The language you mention is SOLRESOL.
Please read facts before you write them in your paper.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solresol
My name is INGA and I am one of the NOBODY who speak esperanto.
Mia nomo estas Inga kaj mi estas unu el la neniu, kiu parolas
esperanton.
Other comments all said what I want to say about this article.
Comment by inga johanson — August 25, 2012 @ 8:58 am
I like the idea of lerning one language to be able to speak with people from other countries. Esperanto is the only real logical choice for this because of its characteristic of being easily learned. Does the author not understand this?
I use it to communicate (not speak though I would welcome the opportunity) with people from iran, china, brazil, france, hungary… I wouldn’t want to have to learn all those languages.
Think how much money would be saved by UN members if they learned Esperanto rather than talking thru translators…
Comment by rich — August 25, 2012 @ 11:46 am
Esperanto is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year – andf it has a lively speaker population scattered over the globe.I’m onee oif them. Esperanto has some remarkable practical benefits. Personally, I’ve made friends around the world through Esperanto that I would never have been able to communicate with otherwise. And then there’s the Pasporta Servo, which provides free lodging and local information to Esperanto-speaking travellers in over 90 countries.
Over recent years I have had guided tours of Berlin, Douala and Milan in this planned language. I have discussed philosophy with a Slovene poet, humour on television with a Bulgarian TV producer. I’ve discussed what life was like in East Berlin before the wall came down, how to cook perfect spaghetti, the advantages and disadvantages of monarchy, and so on. I recommend it, not just as an ideal but as a very practical way to overcome language barriers and get to know people from a very different cultural background.
Comment by Bill Chapman — August 26, 2012 @ 7:29 pm
As a follower of artificial languages, I’ve noticed a few things about Esperanto speakers: some of them tend to be quite bellicose when other auxlangs (shorthand for auxiliary languages) are placed in the discussion, something that I’ve experienced firsthand as a speaker of Ido, one of the offshoots of Esperanto. There’s even a term for them, “finavenkistoj” (“promoters of the final victory [of Esperanto]“), and another of their pet peeves is when the language is regarded as minoritary (as it is in this article; whether that’s true or not I cannot verify).
Comment by Carlos Solís — August 28, 2012 @ 2:05 pm
In reply to Carlos.
I also speak Esperanto, but for me Esperanto is not “artificial” neither historical, but has become living language. Neither is it just a hobby.
In other words what started as an artifical project, has become a living language. Their new online course http://www.lernu.net has 125 000 hits per day and Esperanto Wikipedia enjoys 400 000 hits per day.
Comment by Brian Barker — August 28, 2012 @ 3:13 pm
And in reply to Barker:
Indeed, several originally artificial languages have grown to develop lasting and solid communities, most especially the trifecta of Esperanto, Ido and Interlingua. The problem comes when these communities mock or insult each other, a problem that I’ve experienced myself as I wrote earlier.
Comment by Carlos Solís — August 28, 2012 @ 4:40 pm