It was long time ago we wrote about Esperanto, the UNESCO recommended language for all member countries to save the learning second language time and money.
We also suggested to form the Esperanto distance university for those who are not interested in the language, or so called non language learners.
Yes, it was 15 years ago, we get good respond from the Esperanto community, you can read it here.
A language must be often be used in all sectors, only can be acknowledge by the government that it is functional, providing work, but not as a hobby language which cannot help the people to earn money and knowledge like in the science and technology.
Below are the reply from the AI on Google we asked. It is good for the Esperanto community to think about it.
Even though Brazil as said to be the largest country in the world to have Esperanto speaking community, it is not able to list Esperanto as a second language in the country to save money, millions of dollars for Brazil This amount of money can be used to improve the education facilities in the schools and hospital.
Despite Brazil having one of the largest and most enthusiastic Esperanto communities in the world, speakers do not petition for it to become a second language due to a combination of political realities and practical limitations
. While Esperanto is seen as a cultural link by enthusiasts, most Brazilians and policymakers see little practical benefit compared to other languages, particularly English. Key reasons why Brazilian Esperanto speakers do not pursue official status:
- Political unfeasibility: The movement's primary goal is not to establish Esperanto as a national language. As an international language, it seeks to connect people globally, not to compete with the official language of a sovereign nation.
- Monolingualism ideology: A deep-seated national ideology sees Portuguese as the official and unifying language of Brazil. While the country is linguistically diverse, Portuguese is spoken by over 95% of the population and is mandated for use in official settings and most schools.
- Limited practical use: Despite its appeal as a cultural and philosophical link, Esperanto has minimal practical utility in most business, educational, or daily-life contexts in Brazil. In contrast, foreign language education is heavily focused on English, which is widely seen as a tool for social and economic advancement.
- Focus on smaller communities: Brazilian Esperantists often focus their efforts on their own enthusiastic local and religious communities. For example, some speakers are involved with the Spiritism movement and others with the Bona Espero farm school for poor children, where the language is already in use.
- Historical context: Brazil's national language policy has a history of forcefully implementing monolingualism. Historically, the government has suppressed immigrant and indigenous languages. While this has been more relaxed in recent decades to protect minority languages, it underlines a long-standing national attitude that does not favor adding a constructed language as a second official one.
- Existing linguistic diversity: With over 200 indigenous, immigrant, and sign languages already spoken in the country, Brazil's language policy is focused on preserving threatened native tongues and regulating more common and economically valuable bilingual education, particularly for English. Adding Esperanto to this complex linguistic landscape would likely be considered a low-priority issue.
The AI generated answer is not known to be accurate but at least to let us think about how the Esperanto community in Brazil is focusing in the wrong direction. They only think of the religion but not the financial aspect for the country for example. less cost for learning second language and earning money from producing songs, films etc.
Well, we let the Esperanto community to think about which is the best way to let the UNESCO twice recommended language, Esperanto into the schools. We know learning English is killing us, we have to memorise the irregular verbs with tears rolling down the cheeks by the teachers.
The AI says:
Why no country in the world adopted Esperanto ?
No country has adopted Esperanto as an official language due to a lack of political will, insufficient global speakers and cultural networks, and competition from dominant natural languages like English, which benefit from large existing speaker bases and strong socio-political backing. While designed as a neutral and easy-to-learn language, its artificial nature and limited practical implementation have hindered its widespread acceptance as a unifying language for nations or international organizations.
Lack of Political and Social Infrastructure
- Unlike major languages that became widely adopted through colonial expansion and the influence of powerful nations, Esperanto never had a significant political or imperial power behind it.
- Languages like English have become globally dominant due to their association with powerful nations, robust economies, and established cultural and social networks, making them more appealing for international communication and education.
- Esperanto was never a primary language of any major nation or political bloc, which is a key factor in how languages gain widespread international adoption.
Limited Speaker Base and Practical Use
- While Esperanto has millions of speakers, this is a relatively small number compared to the billions who speak major world languages.
- A lack of native speakers limits the practical scope and usefulness of Esperanto in everyday global communication, further hindering its adoption by countries.
Cultural Factors
- Cultural biases often favor naturally evolved languages with rich histories and established literary traditions over artificial constructs like Esperanto.
- Esperanto advocates have increasingly shifted their focus from achieving official state adoption to cultivating a stateless diasporic linguistic community and culture based on its own merits.
Due to a lack of a global census, the number of Esperanto speakers is not known for certain, but most estimates range from
a few hundred thousand to about 2 million. The wide range is mainly because there is no consensus on what constitutes a "speaker" and how to accurately count them. Factors that complicate the estimate include:
- Varying definitions of fluency: The range of "speaker" could include anyone from a beginner who has registered for an online course to someone with full professional proficiency.
- Estimates based on online activity: Some researchers have tried to estimate the number of speakers based on online communities and language learning platforms. One 2014 study extrapolated from Facebook data and estimated up to 2 million users, though it acknowledged that the actual number could be significantly different due to many variables.
- Reliability of self-reported data: Online statistics, like the number of registered users on a language-learning site or members of a social media group, are often not a reliable indicator of the number of active, fluent speakers.
- Lack of a comprehensive census: No official worldwide census has ever been conducted to count Esperanto speakers, so all figures are based on estimations and extrapolation.
While a precise number is impossible to determine, the internet has allowed for the creation of new estimation methods and the growth of the Esperanto community through online resources.
An Esperanto online university could help attract new users by providing accessible education and demonstrating the language's practicality, but it's unlikely to make Esperanto a second language globally. While the language's ease of learning and propaedeutic effect (making other languages easier to learn) are advantages, widespread adoption requires overcoming significant hurdles, including the dominance of existing international languages like English and the need for a strong economic or political incentive for countries to adopt it.
Potential Benefits of an Online University:
- An online university would make learning Esperanto available to anyone with an internet connection, removing geographical barriers and allowing for a more global reach.
- The structured grammar and logical vocabulary of Esperanto are a strong foundation for learning other languages, a concept known as the propaedeutic effect. An online university could effectively teach this initial language, which may encourage more people to learn it and subsequently facilitate their learning of other languages.
- Online platforms can foster a sense of community and provide opportunities for learners to practice with others, reinforcing their commitment to the language.
Challenges to Widespread Adoption:
- English currently holds the position of a global lingua franca, a situation that is difficult to change. For Esperanto to gain ground, a strong, compelling reason is needed for people and nations to choose it over established languages.
- Language adoption is often driven by economic or political power. Since Esperanto is a neutral, neutral language not tied to any one nation, it lacks the built-in advantages of languages like English or Chinese.
- With so many existing languages and the internet's ability to connect speakers globally, there's a challenge in convincing people to invest time in learning a new, relatively niche language like Esperanto.
Conclusion:
An online university could certainly help increase the number of Esperanto users by making learning more accessible and highlighting the language's benefits as a stepping stone to other languages. However, making it a second language globally is a much larger challenge, requiring more than just educational infrastructure; it would need significant global cultural, political, and economic shifts.
No country has made Esperanto an official or universally adopted second language in its education system, though it has been featured on the curricula of some countries like Hungary and China. While Esperanto was created to be a neutral, international auxiliary language, its goal has never been to replace national languages, and the international Esperanto community values its neutrality.
Where Esperanto has been recognized in education:
- Hungary: and China have included Esperanto in their official state education curricula at various points, according to Zamenhof.info and Lernu.net.
- Some individuals and organizations have promoted Esperanto as a useful tool for learning other languages and as a means to boost language awareness and confidence.
Why Esperanto hasn't been adopted more widely:
- The core philosophy of the Esperanto movement is to promote understanding between people on a neutral linguistic foundation, which would be undermined if it became the official language of a single country, notes Quora.
- Esperanto was designed as a universal second language for international communication, not to be a national first language or official language of any country.
- The practical and political aspects of establishing Esperanto as a widespread glue language for a society have proven difficult to implement.
No, it is not possible for Brazil to be the first country to list Esperanto as a second language in schools
because other countries have done so previously. While Esperanto has a strong and active community in Brazil, it has never been officially adopted by the government for nationwide education. Precedents for Esperanto in education
- Hungary: Esperanto is included in the national language examination system, and students can choose to study it as a part of their curriculum.
- France: Though it was initially banned, Esperanto teaching in schools was facilitated by the French Minister of Education in 1938.
- Other countries: China has also had periods of strong support for Esperanto and still hosts well-attended gatherings.
Status of Esperanto in Brazil
- Active community: Brazil has one of the world's most enthusiastic and active Esperanto communities, with a history dating back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
- Independent initiatives: While it does not receive official government support for schools, organizations like the Brazilian Esperanto Youth Organization (BEJO) have fostered the language's growth independently.
- Specific projects: Esperantists in Brazil have also created educational projects, such as the Bona Espero farm school for underprivileged children, where the language is used.
Broader context
It is important to note that no recognized country has adopted Esperanto as a national or official second language. Esperantists typically envision the language as a neutral bridge for international communication, rather than as a state-sponsored national language.
No, Esperanto cannot be one of the 24 official languages of the European Union under current rules
. Official EU language status is granted exclusively to languages that are already recognized as official languages in one of the member states. Esperanto does not hold this official status in any EU country. Key reasons why Esperanto is not an official EU language:
- It lacks national recognition. According to EU law, an official EU language must be a national official language of a member state. The 24 languages currently recognized by the EU all fulfill this criterion.
- The EU promotes linguistic diversity, not uniformity. The EU's language policy is based on respect for the cultural and linguistic diversity of its member states. While some have suggested Esperanto as a neutral, pan-European language, the European Commission rejects this idea. It would require nearly 500 million people to learn a new language from scratch, a resource-intensive and impractical task.
- It would face significant political hurdles. Granting Esperanto official status would require the unanimous agreement of all member states, as changes to the EU's language rules are made by the Council acting unanimously. Historically, attempts by Esperanto advocates to gain political support have not been successful.
- It lacks a large population of speakers. Unlike the current official languages, Esperanto is a constructed language without a large native-speaking population. While there are Esperanto speakers in Europe and a European Esperanto Union that liaises with EU institutions, the language is still a niche interest
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