How Esperanto *Almost* Took Over The World

[@JamieElli]

Very funny that the French were so against their language being replaced in diplomacy, because by now it has mostly been replaced with English.

[@Dis-ambi]

How the tables turn 👀

[@qrsx66]

Also they themselves replaced Catalan, Basque, Breton, Occitan, Corsican or Kanak with their own Lingua Franca.

[@joaogabrielimperial7777]

great

[@SupGaillac]

Exactly, but quite understandable position when you think about it(*). See 7:46 for example, where the same position was held by the US. (*) not saying it's a good one from a moral point of view

[@faithlesshound5621]

That French veto was a classic case of unwittingly shooting oneself in the foot.

[@noer0205]

That this video doesn't have subtitles in Esperanto is such a missed opportunity... Interesting video though

[@brauljo]

youtube's autotranslated subtitles can be set to esperanto since esperanto is on google translate

[@rizkyadiyanto7922]

proof that the language is crap.

[@TinaxThePossessedArmor]

you can automate subtitles to English --> Espranto

[@benuwuowo]

@@rizkyadiyanto7922 Should we all speak indonesian?

[@rizkyadiyanto7922]

@@benuwuowo oh yes, absolutely.

[@someone________2502]

Holy Shit! 1 week of Spanish, 1 week of French, highschool English, and native tagalog allowed me to understand what the native Esperanto speaker said.

[@bokesnmokes]

I love The Philippines!

[@ArneBab]

Yes, that’s the beauty of Esperanto.

[@ArneBab]

@@dzejrid yes, there are: people born to Esperanto speaking parents whose family language is Esperanto.

[@mezu-e]

​@@dzejridyou clearly misunderstand what "native speaker" means

[@jambec144]

@@dzejrid That's not what the phrase "native speaker" means.

[@themountaindude]

I discovered Esperanto by translating «Cucumber» into different random languages

[@Dis-ambi]

🥒 🥒 🥒

[@EsperantoVarietyShow]

"kukumo" -- which by coincidence can also mean "cakeish".

[@amadeosendiulo2137]

@@EsperantoVarietyShow I'd say that "kukumo", if it was actually used, would mean "an action involving or related to a cake".

[@EsperantoVarietyShow]

@@amadeosendiulo2137 Let's start by agreeing that "kuk-um-o" is not a real word that anybody actually uses -- but that kukum/o actually is - and that it means cucumber. "Cakish" was meant as a joke. Jokes don't tend to do very well when people over-analyze them. I did hesitate over whether people would read "cakeish" as an adjective. I really meant "cake-adjacent thing" -- but I left it as "cakeish" because it's a little more punchy. But it's not clear to me why you corrected me to say that kuk/um/o would be an **action**. There are lots of -um-words ending in -o that are not actions: komunumo, laktumo, ĉarumo, kortumo, buŝumo, kalkanumo, kolumo, brulumo, mondumo... ktp.. If my joke wasn't funny, no need to laugh. And if it was funny before it surely isn't funny anymore.

[@Ocro555]

I tried learning Esperanto on Duolingo months ago lmao!! Was so surprised to stumble across it on KZbin lmao, before the 0:16 mark I already had a strong feeling this video's gonna talk about that language I had once learnt and I was desperately trying to remember what it was called LOL

[@von_nobody]

There is great xkcd comics that describe this perfectly: "There is 14 competing standards" "This can't stand, we need create one universal standard that handle all user cases!" "There is 15 competing standards" :D

[@lightworker2956]

Yes indeed. On paper Esperanto sounds neat, but let's consider for example Americans. In practice they can just speak English 99% of the time, so Esperanto would be that thing that they briefly practiced in school and then forgot about. Most Americans won't speak Esperanto fluently even if it were officially adopted as the global second language. And that means that people from other countries now have a couple of bad options: - Learn Esperanto but not English, and then they can't fluently communicate with Americans - Learn English but not Esperanto, and then they can't communicate with let's say Swedes (who in our timeline speak pretty decent English) - Learn Esperanto AND English, but that's a whole new language to learn, and in practice most people won't take the time to become fluent in two non-native languages. So it seems convenient that some language that a large chunk of people already speak natively becomes de facto the world's second language (English). The only way I can see Esperanto working is if some Chinese or American dictator banned the actual native language and mandated the use of Esperanto.

[@asdfqwerty14587]

Yeah that pretty much sums it up. There's no universal language because learning a new language is more effort than a lot of people are willing to put into it, and adding a new language doesn't change that at all - in fact, creating a new language only makes that problem worse because now you need everyone to learn that new language (if you took an existing language then some people would already know that language so it only needs to be adopted by the people that didn't already know it for it to become universal.. which is still difficult, but getting everyone to adopt a new language is even more difficult).

[@songbirdsandsandwiches8217]

Umm... xkcd is captain reddit himself... you know this right..?

[@von_nobody]

@@songbirdsandsandwiches8217 Yes, and? Did I refer to his political hot takes?

[@songbirdsandsandwiches8217]

@von_nobody it's not that ! Um.. it's just..! Vgh! Hes so so.. soso reddit it's actually well.. bad optics to make any reference to him, like.. at all! I'm just trying to help...

[@suspicioussand]

Scary fact: there is Fr*nce

[@FaresAyadi-p6p]

The worst part is that France forced the language on it's colonies and spread propaganda to make their language universal during international reunions. I'm glad they failed because who the heck will want to learn a language that has 21 tenses. Unfortunately they did some damage, a lot of their formal colonies have their educational system based on the French system and everything is taught in French. A lot of the younger generation in those countries are frustrated that they are forced to learn and use the language and would rather switch to English.

[@cewla3348]

AAAAH!

[@cewla3348]

@@FaresAyadi-p6p the best part is that France is losing its grip on french, as there are more native speakers in Africa than in France. Ergo, they can't control the language anymore. New words and slang are coming into existence!

[@dragonlord1225]

Do not mention that word! 🤮

[@divingstag]

@@FaresAyadi-p6p Rage bien le sans-langage

[@Dracopol]

Mistakes!: 1:53 -as ending is present tense -is ending is past tense -os ending is future tense There are also some active and passive-verb endings -anta, -inta, -onta and -ata, -ita and -ota, used to make compound tenses (tenses in relation to other tenses). 2:08 You misspelled RAPIDE (rapidly, quickly)

[@gillianomotoso328]

No one speaks it though

[@kxngkvde]

@@gillianomotoso328 they're still mistakes though

[@manuelolival949]

thank you for the information

[@PauxloE]

@@gillianomotoso328 There are still some people left speaking it (and even new people learning it).

[@gillianomotoso328]

@@PauxloE yeah, misaimed humor, my bad

[@Nek0Choco]

Ayo, don't zoom in the middle of Siberia when talking about Białystok, which was part of Poland that was annexed by Russia and still is in Poland's borders nowadays 💀

[@oliviaconstanzewoodward-wh7361]

you say that, bu but right after establishing that this starts in 1887, he shows a map of what is clearly interwar europe!

[@KarolOfGutovo]

I thought he was talking about some Biełgostok 😂😂😂

[@nicolascampuzano5150]

in Siveria there is a village named Bialystok. This village were named by Belarusan and Polish catholics exiled in SIberia

[@Corvax77]

​@@nicolascampuzano5150Btw there are still villages in Siberia populated by Poles. My father-in-law comes from one of them. And his ancestors were not exiles; many Polish peasants voluntarily migrated to free lands in the east of the Empire. In a similar way, territories populated by Ukrainians arose in the Far East, the so-called Green Wedge.

[@whoareyouyouareclearlylost323]

​@Corvax77 There are also villages and towns with Russian/Germans

[@KnightandDay33]

"This made up language almost took over the world" I know, everyone almost started speaking French. That was a close one...

[@Erkle64]

And French is a made up language... 🤔

[@inconnu4961]

You would be blessed to speak french; its a language of sophistication!

[@liamannegarner8083]

"By succeeding in removing all impediments to communication and making everybody able to communicate with everybody else in the universe, with no misunderstandings, the Babel Fish has caused more, more bloody, and more destructive wars than anything in the history of the universe."

[@dannygjk]

Ironically maybe 1 in 1,000 will get that quote.

[@dinhero21]

@@dannygjk I doubt hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy is that obscure, my guess is ~1 in 200

[@smileyp4535]

Tbf that's a joke tho lol

[@dannygjk]

@@dinhero21 That book was written before a lot of internet people were born.

[@stephengray1344]

@@dannygjk I think you'll find that the quote actually comes from the original radio series.

[@santapoca]

Thanks France...

[@qwertyqwert2818]

It’s always the fr*nch

[@Dis-ambi]

🤷‍♂️

[@qrsx66]

I don't want to lose my beautiful indigenous language to this sanitized, soulless fabrication anyway.

[@santapoca]

@@qrsx66 honhon baguette

[@amadeosendiulo2137]

Thanks to Gabriel Hanotaux, he was the culprit. Dankon al Gabriel Hanotaux.

[@willjack4170]

Didn't realize this is the FIRST video on this channel? This is super high quality!

[@JatPhenshllem]

Oh cool, neither did I

[@Eskucarlando]

Imagine if there was a universal sign language based on Esperanto.

[@Dis-ambi]

You could be onto something!

[@Eskucarlando]

@Dis-ambi working on it!

[@lipamanka]

there is international sign already

[@Eskucarlando]

@@lipamanka that’s correct! and it often faces the same criticism that Esperanto receives of being Eurocentric. Many argue that since esperanto so closely resembles Romance languages and others that use Latin characters puts countries in Asia and the Middle East at a distinct disadvantage. But the visually intuitive nature of sign languages can level the playing field as hundreds of songs can be recognized without any prior exposure to theses languages. That’s the advantage we build on as we construct this language

[@Ezullof]

not how sign languages work

[@lipamanka]

finally, a video about esperanto that dives into the history sufficiently

[@Dis-ambi]

I think it’s such a fascinating topic (evidently), a shame more people don’t know about its history!

[@jan_Kitalon]

no way is that jan Lipamanka from ma pona

[@lipamanka]

@jan_Kitalon I HAVEN'T BEEN ON MA PONA IN LIKE HALF A YEAR

[@joseloera5849]

toki! sina pilin seme?

[@lipamanka]

@@joseloera5849 MI SONA ALA A

[@novacorponline]

This reminds me of that XKCD comic "Problem: there are 14 competing standards" 'That's ridiculous! We should make a new standard that covers all use cases!' "Problem: There are 15 competing standards."

[@pensulo]

The important difference is: Esperanto is much easier than other languages. You can learn it in about a fourth of the time for e.g. Spanish.

[@termitreter6545]

@@pensulo I dont think thats neccessarily even a difference; a new standard might just be better, assuming everyone uses it responsibly. Its just that when it becomes a niche or only partially used, it can make things more complicated by being yet another standard you need to learn. I also kinda wonder if Esperanto migthve been too simple for long term use, if its that easy? Established languages have lots of "unnecessary" complexity, but also evolved that way to better mimic spoken langauge and all of its subtile meanings. So if half the world spoke Esperanto over 50 years, it mightve gotten a lot more complex. Or create a lot of regional dialects and accents like german or englis haveh.

[@dobrovik]

is english a standard when every word is a special case

[@rapn21]

Very interesting video, although Esperanto actually had a boom in popularity after WW2 and membership peaked in Esperanto associations in the 1980s. The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Communist bloc hurt the language more than the French veto in the League of Nations.

[@ciucinciu]

so esperanto was affiliated with communists afterall

[@pensulo]

No, I don't think so. The number of members in Esperanto associations is only an indication of how many people need and like associations. The Internet has taken over many of the functions of Esperanto associations, so the need for them has diminished. People form groups of a new kind, only on the Internet, people who discuss or work together without formal membership. If you want to compare 1980 with today, don't just compare the number of members in Esperanto associations. Because today you have to add up all these groups, such as editors of the Esperanto Wikipedia, members of mailing lists, etc., in order to have a reliable number of active people. Certainly not an easy task.

[@LowestofheDead]

What's even more impressive is that Esperanto beat dozens of competitors who were all trying to be the 'world's second language'. What made Esperanto successful was that it was politically-opinionated; it was all about international brotherhood and peace in a time of growing nationalist tension (just before WWI). Zamenhof was also great at marketing and used chain-letters to promote it. That's how Esperanto got ~1 million speakers while no-one's heard of Volapuk, Novial, or Interlingue. In fact, we could even make a new one today with new advances in linguistics, more international source languages, an integrated sign language, etc. It doesn't have to be perfect, just easier to learn than English.

[@Tome_Wyrm]

I prefered Volapuk to Esperanto, personally. Though I think Toki Pona would be a better international language. It is in the name. Simple Language. Easy enough to learn for actually anyone as the rules for pronunciation are quite easy for anyone due to the sound library being 9 relatively universal consonants, 5 vowels, and lacks many complexities that trip up language learners every day; not to mention the word list is tiny with a useful spread of concepts.

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

Nequi ha audit pri Interlingue? :P

[@Cecilia-ky3uw]

Ehhh I think I like the english status quo. It's the amalgam language that takes words from more and more cultures nowadays and I think of it as the major heritage of humanity. I find it prettier and beautiful than the deliberisms of any constructed languages.

[@lightworker2956]

"It doesn't have to be perfect, just easier to learn than English." That's not good enough. We can easily make keyboards that are better than Qwerty keyboards, but because people have already learned to use Qwerty and there's no critical reason to switch, the sub-optimal current situation will just continue on.

[@InfernosReaper]

@@lightworker2956 Yeah, a new standard has to be very good to succeed and even then it'll still need a lot of forced adoption. Most people want to learn another language that will be useful to them, not learn a language that *might* be useful at some point.

[@liutauras8086]

It's sad that Lithuania and it's city Kaunas didn't even get a mention, even though it was such a big contributor to the Esperanto language! To those who don't know - Zamenhof's wife Klara Zamenhof is from the Lithuania's city Kaunas! In the city, thanks to Klara's dad Aleksandras Zilbernikas financial support, the textbooks of Esperanto were released in German, Polish and French languages!

[@miwoj]

in Poland in the 90's i remember they were airing animated esperanto courses for kids on national tv every day for some time, because esperanto was gonna be a big thing in the future. i still remember that "mi estas" means "i am".

[@Christopher-fr1sj]

Do you know Jesus Christ can set you free from sins and save you from hell today Jesus Christ is the only hope in this world no other gods will lead you to heaven There is no security or hope with out Jesus Christ in this world come and repent of all sins today Today is the day of salvation come to the loving savior Today repent and do not go to hell Come to Jesus Christ today Jesus Christ is only way to heaven Repent and follow him today seek his heart Jesus Christ can fill the emptiness he can fill the void Heaven and hell is real cone to the loving savior today Today is the day of salvation tomorrow might be to late come to the loving savior today Romans 6.23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. John 3:16-21 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. Mark 1.15 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Hebrews 11:6 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Jesus

[@gerrimilner9448]

i visited Bulgaria, and the B&B was run by an Esperanto speaker, who gave talks at the international fares, she had visited most European countries, freely even while the iron curtain was there, as an educator. i spent some time with her, looking at programs and photos, she had even passed through my local city. interestingly she spoke many European languages but not French

[@mikemondano3624]

Too many fares must have made her huge.

[@Xizario2]

Esperanto was never taught in Bulgaria in any school, not even a course. This person you met must be from another country. Moreover French was top choice for second language among Bulgarians born between 1910 and 1950. Then as Russian was kind of mandatory after 1950 for some time as second language people begin learning third language that was usually German or French. Up until the 90s when people shifted to English.

[@gerrimilner9448]

@@Xizario2 i supposed she was Bulgarian, she ran a B&B there. she was elderly twenty years ago, but she had her certificates up, having traveled lots, i cant ask her how that happened. she may have learned it somewhere else as a child before the curtain fell. i was more interested in all the places she had been and the doors it had opened for her. didn't know there would be a test

[@ProfessorGirafales-m4z]

I discovered Esperanto around the year 2000 and started studying it with books from my local public library. I was learning English and read a book which said that the Vatican radio broadcasts in Esperanto (this is true still today). And wow! In all these years, this is one of the best videos I've ever seen about the subject. This is what I've done with Esperanto: - Travelled and was hosted by Esperanto speakers in different countries; - I hosted Esperanto backpackers from different nationalities in my house and we practised other languages; - Been to Esperanto meetings in my town, watched cultural lectures with people from other countries, had some nice exchange with people; - Been to an international congress with hundreds of people from all continents; - We spent one week at a hotel with all those people, full immersion, music, cultural events, crazy parties, night clubs, restaurants... everything in Esperanto. - In the congress, I've seen all sorts of weird people: spiritualists, atheists, gays, vegans, Buddhists, old wise men that look like beggars, Linux users... Esperanto attracts such weirdos! One thing is sure: you won't get bored. - One night at 3 in the morning we were with a group of Esperantists on the beach "moon bathing"... all naked! If you want to have a sample of that atmosphere, watch the video "Kion vi plej ŝatas dum IJK?" Apart from that, if you want a language for your career, studies, for sitting down and wait speakers to walk by... Esperanto is obviously a no. However, you could learn it just as mental gymnastics, like people play chess, knit, spend hundreds of hours on social media and play video games... so why not Esperanto? You need to be some sort of adventurer, backpacker and have a certain degree of detachment to enjoy Esperanto to the fullest. At the congress, I bought this book "Ili vivis sur la tero" (They lived on Earth - eight years of migration around our planet). It's the amazing story of a couple who circled the planet speaking Esperanto and meeting Esperanto people. They say: When all your belongings for eight years fit in a backpack, you realize that the joy of life is not about what you have, but really about what you are. So you have to be a bit crazy and out of the box to study and enjoy Esperanto and its philosophy. ... MANY COMMENTS HERE ARE WRONG People here are giving all sorts of opinions as true facts even if they have never studied the subject. Contrary to what they say, Esperanto didn't work not because it's utopian, not because of its philosophy, structure, etc. It didn't work exactly because it lacks political and military power, maybe it didn't work because French power and ego stopped it, as explained in this video. But it has worked more than most people imagine, being among the top studied languages today. David Crystal (a top specialist on global languages) explains: “A language does not become a global language because of its intrinsic structural properties, or because of the size of its vocabulary, or because it has been a vehicle of a great literature in the past, or because it was once associated with a great culture or religion. (...) A language has traditionally become an international language for one chief reason: the power of its people - especially their political and military power.” But just think about it: for the first time in history, a language was spread in practically all countries and spoken by millions of people without any political, economical or military power to support it, just with the power of the individuals who speak it. That’s already impressive in itself.

[@FifinatorKlon]

TL;DR it is a language for hedonists Thanks for making me like it even less!

[@denniskeefe1979]

I enjoyed reading your comment. You cover so many interesting points about the human side of using Esperanto. And it is good for anyone studying languages to keep Crystal's point in mind about language and power.

[@ProfessorGirafales-m4z]

@@denniskeefe1979 I've studied English at college, so I've been to a lot of English Language, Linguistics and Literature encounters... I've been to Esperanto encounters too. I could notice these relations of power among speakers as well. In English, the native speakers are always the stars and final authorities of such events ( but especially those who come from the center of the Empire, USA, UK...); there will always be people who speak better than others, people who struggle, people who feel embarrassed to talk, speakers and accents that are considered superior to others. The same pattern is present around the world in the job market and intellectual production (science, literature, arts...). Native speakers from the center of the Empire usually have the upper hand (as job statistics prove). In Esperanto meetings, the energy is completely different. You will find people from all over speaking with more equality, it's easier for everyone to reach fluency, all accents are welcome, nobody feels they are talking to "the owner" of the language because it belongs to everyone and gives everyone the same voice, a more democratic and neutral tool for communication. There is a strong sense of belonging, rather than the sense of exclusion and superiority that I've noticed in English speaking environments. If you had the chance to experience that and how much powerful Esperanto is to connect people of different backgrounds, then try to imagine if that was applied to the entire world.

[@bicyclist2]

Very interesting. I had no idea that this language even existed. This really deserves a much longer video on the subject. I went to a private parochial school for 8th grade, some of my older classmates decided to invent a new language. The took pig Latin, and changed it slightly and then called it Cow Latin. Some of my friends who knew Pig Latin, could figure it out. I couldn't. Thank you.

[@weirdpuppet326]

1:43 no. It’s simple, but not as simple as possible. Just look at toki pona for an example of a simpler language. This doesn’t make Esperanto bad necessarily, it’s just not as simple as possible.

[@dougules]

That's one of the downsides of it being so Eurocentric. Indo-European languages have overly complicated grammar, even the simpler ones like English. Tenses, declensions, and articles are all unnecessary, and probably wouldn't have been included if Asian languages had also been considered.

[@cub1c065]

mi olin e nimi kulupu ni

[@itsmenatika]

You can just have one version of verb and don't change it depending of the time lol That makes it harder that a lot of languages

[@sweetsourorange]

@@itsmenatikawe can I walk I walk already I will walk I walk tomorrow I walk yesterday Easy ❤

[@itsmenatika]

@@sweetsourorange walk -> walked It could be done with "walk yesterday" or something No need for unnecessary conjugation Esperanto has it even more than english It very rarely provides anything in longer conversation, because you also usually state the time The things that you've sent are one of the best English things, which is mostly the easiest grammar if we only include natural languages Even with some things that overcomplicate things, English has still one of the simplest grammar while also conveying a lot of useful meaning It doesn't provide useless information like "the gender of a knife" lol English is also very easy for trans and non binary people and useful in reducing gender inequalities, because unless you're in person, you often can't even guess a gender Really English made me discover that I'm trans lol, because it was the first time I was able to think differently about the gender If English haven't had that bad spelling, it would be 100% perfect fit for lingual franca and there would be no need to even discuss it French shouldn't be even considered to be able to claim that position. It's a very overcomplicated language and the only reason would be it influence You can speak English after very low amount of effort, of course it will be bad, but the point is that English is very easy to start for the majority of people, because its grammar is easy and that's what the most people struggle about, especially that grammar in a lot of languages grammar is just a tradition with a lot of irregular stuff which is irrelevant now

[@icLllliIIIIlILLilLlIjigel]

“Meanwhile, the poor Babel fish, by effectively removing all barriers to communication between different races and cultures, has caused more and bloodier wars than anything else in the history of creation.”

[@AurumDoesStuff]

Can't believe this only has 158 views, it's amazing! I'm subscibed!

[@Dis-ambi]

Starting from the bottom! Glad you enjoyed 🤝

[@xynonners]

it blew up

[@AnderzL7]

“We have too many languages, but fret not, I have a solution. Let’s make another language”

[@lambertmeertens2877]

Toki Pona

[@soulextracter]

Sounds like how JavaScript frameworks are being born.

[@techny3000]

reminds me of that xkcd comic

[@ThalassTKynn]

True, but esperanto was never meant to be anyone's first language. It is supposed to be a language of travel, and trade, and all that. Like when you're in an airport and instead of ten different languages on the signs it'd just be the local language plus esperanto. That reminds me I gotta do my duolingo 😅

[@kyles1255]

@@lambertmeertens2877 google thinks you said Laptop Ax

[@skalkin9656]

I was chosen as a kindergartener to participate in an "experimental class" in elementary school. In this class, each child was selected by a psychologist based on their mental capability. An optional subject I picked was called "enrichment" (direct translation) and involved anything and everything that could make us smarter or more curious about topics taught in mandatory subjects. One of the things taught in this subject were the basics of Esperanto. I have since forgotten all about my elementary school years and just kind of thought Esperanto was well-known around the globe. Turns out it isn't, which is a shame because, in my opinion, it's not that hard to squeeze it into the curriculum and would aid children in better understanding how languages work, since it's very simple. Thank you for enabling me to remember my childhood years.

[@falkoneification]

Cool story! Are you a genius yet?

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

It's well-known just not around the world and part of that has to do with the lack of diversity in the languages that were selected to influence the development of the language. But, keep in mind, this was happening well over a hundred years ago. Linguistics just was not in the place it is now, and the ability to study many different languages for inclusion was a much larger work than it is now.

[@mikemondano3624]

You have no idea what you are talking about. Language may be the most complex thing humans have ever dealt with.

[@demolisherman1763]

Such high production quality! You’re going places good sir.

[@Dis-ambi]

Thank you 🫡 more to come

[@mynka7641]

@Dis-ambi can i add you on discord or something and ask a few questions? your channel will blow up in no time

[@WalletWorrier]

I speak English and Spanish and honestly understood like 70% of Stelas Esperanto, it's amazing how intuitive the language is

[@mkyt2601]

Well yes, for an English and Spanish speaker lol. I wonder how intuitive the language is for someone who natively spoke only the Chinese languages, Bantu languages, etc

[@Taima]

@@mkyt2601 Even in cases where there are no strong advantages in the same way there are for Romance/Germanic speakers, they still have the benefit of it being far easier to learn than English.

[@tanksfornothin]

Well done on putting the work into a proper, new channel. I suppose you already know it's going places quickly :)

[@Dis-ambi]

Thank you. That's the plan!

[@marcinpietrzak9358]

0:21 WTF? Białystok is not and was not in a small corner of the Russian Empire. You sound like it is located in Kamchatka or some obscure northern part of Siberia. Nope, it is located in Central Europe, it's closer to Berlin than to Moscau. And the western part of the Russian Empire was the most populated and industrialized part, not a small corner, but a very important part that gave it a huge part of its strength.

[@PauxloE]

It's was a corner of the Russian Empire, but the western corner, not the eastern as shown on the map.

[@amadeosendiulo2137]

1:54 It's flipped: AS is present IS is past

[@8-bitcentral31]

HOLY CRAP! This video is amazing, well done seriously this have taken bloody ages to make. I figured this was a channel with 2 milllion + subscribers not 11! Amazing work on a brilliant subject matter. This is definetly going to blow up even if the youtube algorithm is ignoring it as of yet. Keep doing this man, you are going to go far!

[@Dis-ambi]

Thank you very much! First of many hopefully 🤞

[@asheep7797]

Now a channel with 252 subs.

[@GlowingRoseDoesGeo]

THIS GUY HAS ONLY 143 SUBSCRIBERS WHAT

[@korakys]

First video on the channel. Every great channel has a beginning...

[@Ocro555]

huh wdym-WHAT?

[@GlowingRoseDoesGeo]

@@Ocro555 someone verified replied to my comment. this is denial.

[@orlewenstein9108]

Had a “wait a moment” moment. I hope it goes viral because of the algorithm and that’s it’s not only recommended to language geeks like me who already learned Esperanto and went to a conference. Keep up the good work - subscribed!

[@Matt-jc2ml]

Already quadruple, 1day later

[@LavinDesign]

Holy fuck. As a professional motion graphics artist myself, this video's quality blew my mind. Instant sub! 🔥

[@Mh-kn1vf]

Holy I thought this had way more views when I was watching this, I hope it goes viral it’s well made, teaches some history and inspires!!

[@Dis-ambi]

Cheers 😁

[@Ocro555]

I tried learning Esperanto on Duolingo months ago lmao!! Was so surprised to stumble across it on KZbin lmao, before the 0:16 mark I already had a strong feeling this video's gonna talk about that language I had once learnt and I was desperately trying to remember what it was called LOL

[@ckq]

It's pretty popular

[@CatsRobloxOther2nd]

Bot

[@Thai_countryball]

@@ckq I reported for misinformation

[@krispinkeyes6542]

This editing is SO GOOD, with such view fews and subscribers, it almost makes me think this is like that experiement where Ludwig tried to prove that it was skill and not luck that made a channel popular by making a top quality video like this and posting it under a new, unassociated channel. Because there is no way a novice made this - it's way too well done.

[@KallMeQul]

the quality on this is crazy, best of luck on your youtube journey!

[@Dis-ambi]

Thank you 😎

[@CoAn67]

WHATT! HOW DO YOU ONLY HAVE 16 SUBS. Just know you’re amazing.

[@Dis-ambi]

Thank you 🙏

[@Pootycat8359]

In Yugoslavia, street signs were in Esperanto, as well as Serbo-Croatian. That made sense. Marshall Tito had declared the country to be officially neutral in the East-West conflict, so it attracted visitors from both Western Europe & the U.S, and the Soviet Bloc. Tourism was also heavily promoted, and there were no travel restrictions for both visitors or local citizens (something unique among communist countries).

[@interparoloj]

Oh indeed? Never heard of the street signs in Esperanto there!

[@Pootycat8359]

@@interparoloj I read about it in the 1960s. I think it was in "Junior Scholastic" magazine, which kids got in their Social Studies & History classes.

[@adammickiewicz7818]

You make it sound like Zamenhof was Russian when he was in fact Polish, just Poland wasn't independent at that time so Białystok belonged to the Russian Empire. Edit: unfortunate wording, thanks Grzegorz_Grabowski

[@jstusr]

he was in fact Jew

[@Grzegorz_Grabowski]

​@@jstusrof Jewish background doesn't mean Jew

[@Grzegorz_Grabowski]

Wasn't independent* For someone ignorant enough to know nothing about history, this might sound like the republic of Poland came out of nowhere in 1918, which is so wrong

[@adammickiewicz7818]

@@Grzegorz_Grabowski Of course you're right! Już poprawiam.

[@amikecoru]

He was a Jew, from a family very involved in Russian state life, his father worked in education and also censored Hebrew and Yiddish magazines. Zamenhof spoke fluent Russian (and printed his first book on Esperanto precisely in Russian) and fluent Polish (there are some Polish influences in the language: like "nafto" for oil or the way we speak about time: Esp. je la sesa, Pol. o szóstej, etc.) It's hard to call him Polish, even a Polish Jew, since the city was outside the Kingdom of Poland as an entity in the empire. I wouldn't insist on calling him Russian as well, despite his Russian citizenship and the many texts he produced in Russian. And that is a position so wonderful for a creator of an international language, him being multilingual from a diverse region like Białystok of the time, makes him perfect for his role.

[@devonova_animation]

i see ive discovered a brand new channel, i can absolutely see you taking off so i wish you luck

[@Dis-ambi]

Thank you!

[@fredrickcampbell8198]

10:30 considering the sheer variety in just English, I do not think it would have stayed standardised.

[@Ludvigvanamadeus]

It was supposed to be a worldwide auxiliary language, not a global native language. Languages diverge when groups of speakers become distant from one another and rarely interact, but as this language was by design supposed to be used for international communication, it would be naturally prevented from divergence

[@holnrew]

I started learning it out of curiosity, but I ended up loving it. It's not especially useful or easy to find other speakers, but it's just fun and satisfying to work with. It makes more sense as a hobby these days than a serious attempt at uniting people, but it's still worthy of keeping alive imo. There's just this infectious positive spirit within the language itself, as well as the community

[@xvivido]

Great use of visuals to keep the video interesting, without them being distracting! Also wow, the fact that we were one french vote away from something so potentially monumental is wild

[@Dis-ambi]

Crazy isn’t it - a real sliding doors moment

[@alicemilne1444]

That is far too simplistic. The situation was much more complicated than that. And the reason that Esperanto was ditched is that it was already getting to be a political bone of contention. Here's a PhD thesis where the topic is discussed far more thoroughly than in this video. Carolyn Biltoft, ‘Speaking the peace: Language, world politics and the League of Nations, 1918-1935’ (PhD thesis, Princeton University, 2010).

[@Wandsworth1]

Yeah, the French fought off Esperanto but then got skewered by English, lol!

[@chrism3784]

So basically the reason I'm not speaking a very simple to learn language I could speak to anyone in the world in is because of the French. I'm a native English speaker and English was my biggest struggle in school to try to learn and I'm still not perfect at it.

[@inconnu4961]

No one is perfect at their native language. So dont feel bad! Read a little history on English, on the many spelling variations, the meanings changes, and the made up words added by classic english writers. English has MORE available words at its disposal than nearly any other language!

[@lhumanoideerrantdesinterne8598]

What this video forgets to mention is that, even at its peak, Esperanto was only spoken by a very small minority of well-of intellectuals. There never was any real mass adoption. That's why it became so easy to vilify it as the secret language of free-masons trying to control you or whatever. Even if it was meant for everyone, it only ever belonged to a certain elite. Also, while I'm all for the idea of a common, unifying language, a new, artificial one, no matter how well made will always suffer from the lack of history that gives other languages their complexity and depth, especially when this one was explicitly made to be simple and easy to use. You can't have the same amount of subtlety and nuance in Esperanto as in any other language and, in turn, that limits you ability to think and communicate. It makes me think of when Randall Munroe made an encyclopedia (or Thing Explainer) using only the 1000 most common words in English. It's "simple" to read but also incredibly unwieldy and unhelpful when trying to discuss any mildly difficult topic. Personally, I'm fine with English taking over as the international language that it is today. I don't think it deserves it because it's superior or whatever, but it has been used for centuries by millions of people and as such, has some practical usage and history. Obviously, every other language has its value and deserves to be preserved, even Esperanto, but you cannot expect a made-up language which isn't rooted in an actual culture to ever take off. Even is that LoN vote had succeeded, at best Esperanto would have become that same thing as Latin to the Catholic Church. A dead language, unknown to the public and spoken only by an elite class as a way to gatekeep knowledge and influence from people without the correct education. Far from its original goal, it would only have increased resentment and tension between the people and its leaders. It would never have worked. My goal isn't to spread hate on Esperanto. It's a nice idea and I don't mind people learning it. But it tends to be romanticized by people who don't really stop to think about it and that annoys me.

[@Вихнажд]

Give me enough troops and an entire nation will speak Esperanto in a couple of years. And if there really are ENOUGH troops, then the whole world.

[@charlesburgoyne-probyn6044]

A language has to be vertical not horizontal ie the master must be understood by the servant not merely between masters. In other words it is an elitist cant

[@PauxloE]

Sounds like the usual linguist judging Esperanto without actually knowing it. Many actual Esperanto speakers don't feel limited by the language. (I'm using it in my daily life.) Of course, as a bgeinner you won't have the vocabulary to discuss topics you've never discussed before, but that's the same if you never discussed these topics in English (or German or whatever).

[@Cecilia-ky3uw]

​@@PauxloELiterarywise, can you really say esperanto compares with the wealth of english. We have at least fifteen different ways to say to duck, all with unique connotations in use. Our constant use of definite in its sarcastic meaning, so on. English represents what we humans have constructed over generations. It's not extremely cumbersome that it's unwieldy, and yet you can express a wide range of tones while saying what is ostensibly the same thing. To duck means something different from to cringe, or to bob down or so on.

[@NiallWardrop]

@@Вихнажд That appears to have been part of the problem, it was doing OK until they tied it to an ideology that people thought might actually do something like that.

[@jahongrmrzo1821]

What?! This video is so professional and good that I didn't even believe my eyes seeing your subscriber count! You deserve more, man.

[@agranero6]

Language do not divide people: Argentina helped Brazil destroy Paraguay, Serbian and Croatian people, despite of not being the same language can understand each other and that didn't avoid a war. Belgium and France mostly speak the same language and this didn't avoided Napoleon of invading Belgium.

[@Kkubey]

At least, they don't politically. Socially, yes.

[@agranero6]

@Kkubey Let's not forget American Civil War. Socially the same language can divide people: take a Cockney accent and a Given Pronounciation accent of English in GB. Social division was there all the time the accent difference is a consequence of the division in this case. ANYthing that separate people in groups can divide people even being fan of different football teams. PS: I really don't remember writing this comment ;-) but it seem like a thing I would write.

[@tmonkey3323]

you cant support that argument with just a few weak examples

[@agranero6]

@tmonkey3323 In those 'weak' examples more than 8 million people died. Also Germany invading Austria, Rusdia invading Bielorussia, Argentina-Chile war (Beagle war), US Canada war (1812)...

[@tmonkey3323]

@@agranero6 with those examples you argumented that conflict can still happen even if people speak the same language, and that there can be unity even without having the same language, i agree with you on this, however, they dont prove that languages dont divide people i called them weak because they dont really relate to the original argument directly

[@luisgentil]

At around 2007 I somehow came across Esperanto on the internet. Started taking a few lessons and fell in love with its simplicity and effectiveness. I ended up taking an extension course in college and went to a congress in 2009 in Poland. It was memorable. But over time I completely forgot about it. English just ends up being the language of the "information era" boom and a huge chunk of pop culture, it just sucks you in once you're familiar with it. Esperanto, on the other hand, takes effort and dedication to keep alive, even though your can speak it fluently in a matter of months and is fun to learn.

[@NoobHammer]

the editing is really good

[@Infoflexy]

finally, a small and refreshing creator, keep it up, you will rule the algorithm

[@leopaveley]

As someone who holds Esperanto very dear to my heart, this video was exceptionally good for such a small channel and I'll definitely show people this when they ask about that made-up language I'm so passionate about. Dankon!

[@itsazziboi]

Very good quality video, despite the low subscribe count. Keep up the good work!

[@ludwikzamenhof3674]

Long time Esperantist here, Esperanto is still a living language tbh, people coin neologisms to deal with new technology and slang terms do exist amongst Esperantists

[@gintaspusch]

so funfact, my father is one of the biggest contibutors / administrators for the esperanto wikipedia, i never looked into the history that deeply, but always wondered why there is no younger generation speaking the language. Honestly i feel that even though there is a big missed opportunity here especially because its easyer to learn, we do nowadays have more or less a few languages that allow similar communication. Speaking at least two of these (English, Spanish, French, Hindi, mandarin, arabic) Languages will allow you to travel almost anywhere and find people to connect with. In many cases these (if not already your native language) will act as intermediary languages that are widely spoken and understood.

[@dogvom]

1:54 You have two of your tenses mixed up. _"Mi amas"_ is present tense, not past, and means "I love". _"Mi amis"_ is past tense, not present, and means "I loved". You got future tense right, though... _"Mi amos"._

[@lowrads3653]

It's efficient, but it would make for some dull poetry.

[@nickgamernb3784]

I watched this thinking this was some big channel, just to see that this is your first video! Fantastic work!

[@Macion-sm2ui]

Esperanto is indeed very interesting language, but in my opinion it had never had a chance to became native language of all people, because it was compound. And if you believe that speaking the same language is enought to stop all wars then check all the civil wars across the world, or - American Revolution, where both sides spoke tha same language.

[@ronaldonmg]

Outside propagandalies, it never was intended to be the native language of all people

[@thehumancanary131]

I went to Bromley Technical Scool - we had a teacher there who tried to inveigle students to learn Esperanto - he taught 'technical drawing' - 65 years have passed - and I have never heard it spoken since!

[@Daleymop]

I'm an Esperantist who loves language history, and I've always wanted a video exactly like this to show people who want to know more. This language has allowed me to meet some incredible and interesting people including my best friend, and have great experiences with a unique and fun community. Thankyou for covering its fascinating history so well

[@suluntulu]

891 subscribers? AM I READING THAT RIGHT? THIS IS AMAZING! Your work is so well made, I'm surprised you haven't gotten above 100k views in 5days. I'll certainly be watching more of you!

[@alecbosse6425]

Great video! I really enjoyed it and the quality was excellent . I look forward to seeing more videos from your channel!

[@notyuu520]

Holy moly, I didn’t realize this top notch quality video is from a small channel. More people need to see this

[@Dis-ambi]

Thank you, more to come 🤞

[@DrippyPootis]

Wow a boom start for a channel, your editing is awesome too. (Domaĝe ke la francoj ekzistas)

[@catdotjs]

Problem with Esperanto is it doesn't just favor romance languages, it incredibly heavily leans to them. Every time I hear Esperanto, as a romance language speaker, I still think it is Spanish. I tried to learn it and I found it to be quite annoying with its simple grammar too. It is highly functional but lacks so much personality and emotion. It is simple but that simplicity sacrifices so much nuance.

[@holnrew]

As somebody who likes Esperanto I tend to agree, it's like a language created by an engineer. But that's what makes it appeal to me and is pretty ideal to learn at the same time as another language, as long as it isn't one of the romance languages

[@lilbananadoesstuff]

Goated video! It’s interesting, has engaging information and visuals, and is of high quality! Keep at it and you’ll be on par with other big history channels soon.

[@KnownNiche1999]

Just want to say that the idea of geopolitics just ending because people would speak one single language is beyond sillybilly and misses the point of why conflicts happen.

[@KnownNiche1999]

Oh and also, today most of the 1st world knows basic English as a shared communication language, and yet conflicts have not seized

[@salvadorromero9712]

If all men saw each other as closely related brothers and spoke the same language, we would surely get along as well as they do in the Balkans.

[@rushyscoper1651]

yes and no, for example war between UK, US canada is a lot harder to imagine then war with a different speaking language, yes language does bring unity

[@Taylor-mk8nf]

@@salvadorromero9712 I’m not sure you understand what having siblings is like. I have many siblings and we frequently get into disagreements (they’ve gotten less violent as we matured but they are still very heated). If people who grew up in the same household and speak the same language can still quarrel how can we expect anything different on the macro scale?

[@salvadorromero9712]

@@Taylor-mk8nf I'm not sure you understand what I wrote.

[@arrunzo]

Man, this video has great editing! As for the Esperanto language itself, I think it's a cool, but messy language. I highly doubt it will ever fulfill its original goal of being the world auxiliary language, but I think aspects of the language and culture are cool in their own right. Also, two small comments about the video. Firstly, I know it was talked about in the video, but Duolingo really was a massive contributor to the popularity of Esperanto in recent years. Yes, there were definitely resources and an online presence before the Duolingo course, but Duolingo's name brand recognition and accessibility really helped spread Esperanto to a lot of people that would otherwise not have touched it. Secondly, I didn't see any mentions of what I consider a key aspect of Esperanto, which is that people don't want to against the "Fundamento" of Esperanto. This means that a lot of people do not want to change Esperanto, because they see changing Esperanto as making it into something that ceases to be Esperanto. This mentality manifests itself in the sense of using "built" words over "borrowed" words found in the real world. For example: "lernejo" (literally: "learning place") vs "skolo" for "school". There have been attempted Esperanto reforms and offspring languages (such as Ido, which is a weirdly gallicized Esperanto), but they have not succeeded in large part due to this mentality of resisting change. Lastly, if anyone is interested in the realm of auxiliary languages, there is a zonal auxiliary language based specifically on natural Slavic languages called "Interslavic". I've heard that it is the most used auxiliary language in the world after Esperanto.

[@OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOq]

I only speak Spanish and English, yet I could somewhat understand the speaker. Seems like the language is heavily based on Latin.

[@henrimasson5408]

+/- 75 % latin, 20% anglo-saxon, 5 % grec, slave et autres

[@jahmez4791]

Love the video glad it got recommended! Keep it up

[@liamannegarner8083]

The pop culture footprint is grand, but what's even better are the puns. "Saga" uses Esperanto for the alien languages, once including someone's ex-girlfriend showing up, holding a whip, going "Mi maltrafis vin tiom!" Which is literally "I missed you so much!" but uses the word for "miss" as in "hit or miss" so the sentence reads, with her holding the whip, "I didn't hit you often enough!" And the classic puns. "Why did the city planner visit the bakery for Halloween?" "He wanted to carve a pumpkin." (Kukurbo could be either "pumpkin" or "a city made of cake.")

[@MrAwesomeSaucem]

great video! cant believe you don't have more subs

[@burgercide]

Can someone translate - It had the balls to think outside the box - into Esperanto? 10:52

[@Da_Noobi3]

Ĝi havis la pilkojn por pensi ekster la skatolo

[@ronaldonmg]

@Da_Noobi3 pilkojn--> kojonojn, and that's not the word you literally use for testicles

[@marcusaureliusf]

That's a very literal translation... 😂

[@ronaldonmg]

@@marcusaureliusf you are right that it's too literal. "pilkoj" is balls in general, you wouldn´t use it for testicles (testikoj), nor for guts (kojonojn)

[@MitchBurns]

I can see the language having serious struggles taking off in America these days. One of the reasons being the same as with the French before, but also we are very religious here, and I’m pretty sure the story of the Tower of Babble warns against a universal language.

[@amikecoru]

It warns against defying God, not against having a common language. Actually there are some Esperanto speaking Christian groups, they even worship on certain occasions with Esperanto as the language of serving.

[@dannygjk]

The name of the language makes it look like it was derived from spanish.

[@espneindanke9172]

It sounds like it too. As a non-spanish speaker, I'm not sure if I could tell them apart.

[@debranchelowtone]

@@espneindanke9172 It's more like polish with spanish endings.

[@majkus]

I think Zamenhof was half-right about Esperanto and world peace. A common language will not itself bring about peace, as many civil wars demonstrate easily. But it may be the case that a common language is a _necessary_ condition (not a sufficient one) for a state of peace. The current 'prestige' language is English. We do not trust people who speak English with the wrong accent, or less fluently than we. But when _both_ parties learn a common _second_ language to communicate, it's a different matter. Then we can really talk, as (linguistic, at least) equals. The experience of going to an international gathering where everyone is speaking only Esperanto is extraordinary.

[@letronix6243]

Interesting solution. He grew up in a place where multiple languages were spoken and they saw themselves as enemies because of the language barrier. His solution: Another language

[@Nikola_M]

it's like the Standards comic from xkcd

[@davidp.7620]

yeah, shutting up would have been the right solution!

[@dominikoeo]

You overlook the fact that Esperanto is orders of magnitude easier to learn than most (or all) other languages and it's more culturally neutral, even if not completely neutral given that root words often come from Romance, Germanic or Slavic languages. So it's not just one more language. It's a bridge language. Despite being simple, it can be very expressive and speakers can be creative in their way of speaking and choosing or building words. It's simple for several reasons: * regular grammar: regular plural, regular verbs, regular ways of building words, ... * agglutinative, so when you learn one root word, you can build many other words. In fact, you can build many words that would not even have equivalents in English. It takes a fraction of time to learn a rich vocabulary as a result compared to other languages. * spelling is regular and phonetic * many resources available to learn it: plenty of methods, books, online courses, newspapers, translated software...

[@Cecilia-ky3uw]

​@@dominikoeoThis sacrifices the uniqueness and inherent expressiveness in languages like english. Yes we have like ten words for everything, and they have varying roots. But they mean their own specific thing and the writing is more deliberate, their lack of connection to one another adds to the distinctness of each word's identity. That quality of english is what makes it among the valuable languages for literature, you can say to duck, bow, lower your head, crouch, cringe, so on.

[@Wandsworth1]

To be fair, he wanted a COMMON language so everyone could understand everyone else. When Italy was founded in 1861, one of the many dialects spoken in the different regions was chosen to be the official lingua franca and was named "Italiano". Everyone was then told to learn it so that they could do business with each other and conduct politics. Lots of Italians speak Italian as a second language, not mother tongue.

[@Marylandbrony]

If only the Amazing Digital Circus had an Esperanto dub. Then a whole new generation of kids would start speaking it.

[@dave5008]

This is such a high quality video. Your channel is surely gonna grow well! Great video

[@Dis-ambi]

Thank you!

[@alexandertumarkin5343]

34 years ago, I noticed an announcement on a telegraph pole. A week before they had launched 3 month Esperanto course in my city. I joined the group immediately, took the course, passed an exam with mark "bonege", which means "excellent"... and completely forgot it, just because I never had a chance to use this language for all this time. The language is simple, pretty, harmonious, logical... and, sadly, absolutely useless in the real world, outside Esperantist sparce community.

[@Barisxoxo]

I was watching this till I realized this video only had 45 views holyyy

[@Dis-ambi]

Working our way up 📈

[@glenmorrison8080]

As an Esperantist, this is by far the most accurate and informative explainer video I've ever seen on Esperanto.

[@Duke_of_Lorraine]

For a language to become a lingua franca, it needs being the primary language of a hegemonic power : Ancient Greece (with all of Alexander's successor states), Rome (with the catholic Church as a successor), France which influenced all of Europe, the British Empire + the USA. Arabic and mandarin chinese outside of the West. In such a position it makes sense many will learn the language to play in the big league, as it has a big practical use : if you learn it, chances are you'll always find someone that can speak it. An artificial language will have none of that. It may be designed to be easy to learn but it will lack the critical mass to be useful. Sure you can learn esperanto but if depending on your activity what you really need is either english (for business) or french (for diplomacy) there is only little esperanto can add.

[@keacoq]

The trouble with constructed languages is that they are constructed. People thought them up, listening to some good ideas and not others. Based on their experience but ignoring ideas they had not heard of or rejected because of unfamiliarity. Using their own familar alphabet. English has techincal advantages that (mostly) escaped the invernter of Esperanto: 1 Short alphabet: No accents or compulsory apostrophes. 2 Short words: Often complex verbs made from two short ones. 3 No special endings to signify part of speech: any word can be used as noun or verb or adjective etc. 4 No strict spelling/pronounciation connection: pronounciation can change. 5 The above makes it easy to borrow words and use them in English 6 Adjective before nouns: counter-intuitive but simpler. 7 No official body to make decisions about it. Change happpens when usage changes. Not by decree. 8 Stress timing: important words emphasised. 9 No gender and simple conjugation. Complex tenses by combining simple tenses. 10 No obligations to culture of originators. Some languages have features to suit local culture. 11 Apparently English is easy to be understood in, difficult to perfect. Perfect qualities for wide adoption. But neither English nor Esperanto bridges the problem of different scripts.

[@felipevasconcelos6736]

A lot of those are about spelling, which's separate from the language itself. I'll still address them, but they're ultimately irrelevant. 1 English has compulsory apostrophes to mark contractions and the possessive case. Esperanto doesn't. Also, Esperanto's letters with diacritics are usually analyzed instead as separate letters, and they can be alternatively written as digraphs. Zamenhof suggested using ch, gh, hh, jh, sh for ĉ, ĝ, ĥ, ĵ, ŝ when the circumflex is inconvenient. Nowadays, a lot of people use cx, gx, hx, jx, sx, ux for ĉ, ĝ, ĥ, ĵ, ŝ, ŭ, which's kind of ugly but it works. 3 the point of Esperanto is that you have the freedom to use a word as any part of speech you want, and it's always clear since the ending tells you which part of speech it is. 4 that's the case for every single written language on Earth, but usually they change the spelling accordingly to better reflect the pronunciation 6 how is that simpler?? If anything, it's slightly confusing since until you hear the noun you have no idea what the adjective is modifying. Also you can put adjectives before nouns in Esperanto, it's just not as common. And in English you sometimes *have* to, like in "president elect" or "attorney general". 7 the Akademio de Esperanto likes to act like they can control the language, but they don't. They've opposed the X-system forever, but people kept using it, and in 2007 they had no choice but to accept it. They oppose iĉismo (using the suffix -iĉ for masculine like -in is for feminine, reinterpreting words without either as gender-neutral) and other attempts to fix Esperanto's gender system, yet iĉismo is more popular than ever. 10 I don't understand what you mean by this 11 That applies to every natural language and many constructed languages, including Esperanto. That is, if the listener makes an effort. And I don't think that should be a goal, a perfect international language should be easy to be understood in and easy to perfect.

[@PauxloE]

1. The English alphabet has 26 letters, the Esperanto one has 28. Not a big difference. The "accents" not being part of ASCII was because ASCII was made for English, not Esperanto. (Zamenhof was inspired by slavic letters, but turned the accents around so they would be easier to type with western-style type writers (which had the accents for French).) 2. English composes terms by writing words beside each other (as does Chinese), falling quite out of the norm for European languages. Esperanto puts the roots together and adds prefixes and suffixes. This makes for less roots, and somewhat shorter composites where both have them. 3. This makes it often quite confusing what part of speech a certain word is. ("Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana." Compare with "Tempo flugas kiel sago, bananmuŝoj ŝatas bananon".) 4. Pronounciation can change, and different people (especially people from different dialects) pronounce the same word differently. (I had quite some trouble understanding the Indian variety of English when my company started to hire Indians several years ago. While there are accents in Esperanto (mostly by people who only interact with other speakers of the same native language), so far they are mostly mutually understandable.) I'm not sure why you count this as an advantage of English? When first reading an unknown word, how do you know how to pronounce it? When first hearing an unknown word, how do you know how to spell it? 5. Esperanto also can borrow words (and does, to a great degree), but then will adjust spelling and/or pronounciation to fit into the language. This means when you read a word, you know how it's pronounced (and the other way around). 6. Not sure I understand your point. 7. Esperanto also mostly evolves by people just using it. (Nobody had a computer when it was invented, and for a time there were two candidates: "komputero" (directly borrowed from English) and "komputilo" = "komput" + "ilo", a tool for calculating. The latter won. There is the Akademio de Esperanto, but it only rarely issues "decrees" about what is correct. You also have semi-official sources in English, like the Oxford Dictionary. 8. Not sure I understand your point. The Esperanto "stress on the penultimate syllable" rule helps to find where words start and end in fast speech. 9. Esperanto is gender-wise quite similar to English (it's only there for pronouns, with similar discussions about gender-neutral pronouns). English has quite a list of irregularly conjugated verbs. Esperanto's conjugation is strictly regular. (And you also can build composed tenses by using participles, if you want - there are even more than the two which English has. But for most purposes the three simple tenses are enough.) 10. Not quite sure what you mean here? 11. I'd argue that Esperanto is even easier to learn to a level where people can understand you. (I famously managed to write an quite long email a week after I started learning.) Not sure why you consider "difficult to perfect" is helpful for wide adoption?

[@keacoq]

@@felipevasconcelos6736 Thank you for that reply. Apostrophes and culture are more about French. But those diacritics come from the inventor's culture? Spelling irrelevant? Spelling essential for precise communication. The endings force the user to make clear the part of speech. No room for ambiguity when needed. And p-o-s mostly evident from context, so endings just slow down communications? I think mostly spelling changes do not follow pronounciation changes, and pronounciation can vary regionally. We often put detail before the main word, because then we only continue as long as needed. Often the noun is evident. Example, your name has personal name then family name. People only use your family name when it is needed. Esperanto Academy already standing in the way of allowing the language to evolve according to usage. They are killing it. English can be used correctly with almost no grammar knowledge. So easy to start with little effort. But there is much subjective there. There is no doubt that learning another language is good for the brain!

[@dominikoeo]

A lot of your argument are wrong, biased or irrelevant. > Short alphabet: No accents or compulsory apostrophes. That's a none-issue. English has 26 letters. Esperanto has 28. 2 more letters makes no difference. And at least, each letter is a single sound in Esperanto unlike in English. > Short words: Often complex verbs made from two short ones. On the other hand, a single word in Esperanto require multiple words to say the same in English or don't even exist in English. Take noun "lundo" (= Monday). Since Esperanto is regular I can build the adjective "lunda" (no equivalent in English), I can build the adverb "lunde" (no equivalent in English either, it would be a bit like "mondayly" for "on Mondays", I can build the verb "mondi" (no equivalent in English), I can build many derivative words with like "lundacxo" (a bad monday,. acx suffix for bad). I can probably build hundreds of words like that from the stem "lund". > No special endings to signify part of speech: Word ending is actually a strength of Esperanto. See e.g. what I wrote above. > No strict spelling/pronounciation connectio That's also a strength. It's a lot easier to learn a language that is phonetically spelt (as opposed to the mess of spelling English). > The above makes it easy to borrow words and use them in English Sorry, I don't get that. > Adjective before nouns: counter-intuitive but simpler. Completely arbitrary or bias. I'm a native French speaker and the adjective after the noun is equally intuitive. One is not better than the other. It's only what you are more used to. In Fact, in Esperanto you can choose the word order since the ending give you the nature of the word, so the word order is less strict than English. > No official body to make decisions about it. None in Esperanto either. The language evolves like other languages. > No gender and simple conjugation. Well, Esperanto has no gender either and the verbs are a lot simpler than English since there are 0 irregular verbs and since knowing a single root word, you can build many verbs or other words (less cognitive load and creativity) > No obligations to culture of originators. That's more true for Esperanto. It is more neutral than English. > Apparently English is easy to be understood in, difficult to perfect. No, English is not easy. It is easier than some language at the beginning, but still not easy and diifficult to become fluent. Esperanto is more than an order of magnitude easier to learn and master. Esperanto sadly suffers from misjudgments from people who know nothing about it, but who still feel qualified to express an opinion about it.

[@consumingkazoos]

the proper name for a "made-up" language is called a conlang. conlang is short for constructed language you can make a conlang yourself if you want

[@jambec144]

*All* languages are "made-up." It's just a question of how many people were involved.

[@consumingkazoos]

@@jambec144 true

[@FifinatorKlon]

Also the con-man uses conlang

[@TahaMedyaTV]

subscribed for sure! Nice to be in the first hundreds of millions to come

[@Dis-ambi]

Thank you! We shall see 👀

[@BadgerOfTheSea]

In his letters Tolkien talks about it in a mocking tone. He had no respect for the language itself, only that people were making languages. He was appointed as an advisor without being asked if he wanted to.

[@emily36130]

To my ignorant german ass it just sounds like spanish

[@CybaGDyt]

This is an insanely informative and professional video. I'm going to sub

[@Dis-ambi]

Join the club 😎

[@Sammysapphira]

The idea that the language would have "fixed" everything is ridiculous to begin with. Translation has always existed; it's not like people didn't know what other people are saying. Now, in the modern era, we have instantaneous AI translation which perfectly and accurately translate any language into any other language. Yet there is still war. Furthermore, it ignores the reality that most wars occurred between nations that spoke the same languages.

[@benwest3223]

A language carries its history with it. A constructed language is a rootless tree.

[@edonan85]

mi konsentas, kaj mi ne komprenas kial kelkaj stultuloj eĉ lernas tian ridindan lingvon!

[@macsnafu]

"Linga Franca"--I get it now, that French used to be the common language of international trade and diplomacy. But ironically, even though France vetoed Esperanto, English became the new linga franca. And I think it's very clear and not a miscommunication of any kind why France vetoed Esperanto. Which brings us to the idea behind Esperanto. At one time I held the idea that most conflict in the world was simply miscommunication, but I got over that idea. Sure, there are some miscommunication problems in the world, but the major causes of political conflict are based on political power and the desire for it, as well as the fear of losing that power. Everybody wants to...control... the world, and are afraid of things not under their control. You might possibly say that that idea is a based on a misunderstanding, but it's a more fundamental misunderstanding human nature and how the world works instead of a misunderstanding based on miscommunication. Anyway, tangent aside, Esperanto seems to have made the mistake of intruding on the political world, and getting itself associated with socialism, which provided the ruling powers a convenient scapegoat for harassing Esperanto speakers and preventing the spread of the language.

[@paperpass6834]

keep posting youre going to go very far

[@xymaryai8283]

wow, last time i was this new to a basically new channel, Esperanto was still new this video is amazing though, nothing has inspired me to learn it more than this, i thought its history was mostly just that, but theres a lot here that demonstrates it has a chance. i do still think it doesn't really match up to its mission though, as an international language for the whole planet to speak, it was made at a time where only Europe mattered in the world, and its starkly reflective of it. Asia, Africa, anywhere else will have more difficulty learning it than Europe and its colonies, some sounds so difficult that accents could be harder to understand than even English ones. but it probably deserves its second chance, it was already so close the first time, just perhaps alongside others. my pick of Viossa is not likely to be adopted, heck the issues with it as an IAL are far worse, but i like it for its broad approach. hopefully other runners can learn a bit from it

[@Dis-ambi]

So glad you enjoyed it! Con langs are fascinating things, but Esperanto definitely had its flaws. Who knows if anything will challenge English in the next 100 years, it happened to French! 👀

[@Aqvif3r]

Saluton! Esperantist here, I just wanted to say that even though I love your video, youi did get 1 thing wrong: "Amas" Ans all "-as" Ending verbs are present "-is' is past, and "-os" was correct, there is also a "-us" tense (For example "Mi amus" which means "I *should love") or it can be used for a command (For example: "Staru", which means "Stand" but as a command [Like in "Stand up"])

[@ronaldonmg]

us is conditional. Mi amus = I would love (if some condition were fulfilled)

[@Aqvif3r]

@@ronaldonmg Yeah, my mistake aswell, i get it confused sometimes

[@robinharwood5044]

This idea that communication leads to peace is pretty naive. When you understand what the other mob are actually saying, you realise what they are plotting, and you have to destroy them first before they destroy you. Britain and Japan had zero communication for centuries, and no conflict between them. But lots of conflict with the Frogs, though thousands of British people understood French, and there were Frogs who understood English.

[@ccaagg]

The end of WW2 was like 80 years ago, and even then that was a conflict with the Vichy regime. The last war with France where it wasn't because France was Nazi was over 200 years ago. Why are you unironically calling French people frogs.

[@Sentient_Blob]

No one said it would guarantee world peace, but it’s undeniable that on average you feel more connected with people that speak your language than don’t. Also your argument makes no sense, your equating the idea of two countries sharing a couple speakers to a theoretical united world language. Like no shit Josh the polyglot peasant can’t stop the Hundred Years’ War

[@phil2160]

And lots of conflicts with the Poissons

[@debranchelowtone]

Ah encore ces rosebifs !

[@jonathangardner4128]

Another pop culture connection - George Orwell's "Newspeak" language from 1984 has been theorized to be inspired by Esperanto, due to Orwell's aunt being married to a French socialist who insisted they only speak Esperanto in their household. Newspeak shares similarities with the language with the strategies to eliminate "useless" words by adding negative contractions to words to obtain the opposite meanings, such as newspeak "ungood" = bad, and Esperanto "malbona" = bad.

[@Narrowgaugefilms]

I've heard it said of Esperanto that its biggest weakness in attracting new speakers is the lack of a travel brochure: very often when someone takes up a foreign language there is a fascination with connecting with another culture and a destination for travel, especially when that culture and place belonged to their ancestors. Beyond that, there is the possibility of a language for international commerce, and that is undoubtedly English these days. The down-side of that is English is a hard language to learn as a second language: the spelling and pronunciation aren't standardized, and there are more words than any other language. the bright side is the grammar is simplified, especially where grammatic gender is concerned.

[@ccaagg]

Pasporta Servo! The travel brochure would be for anywhere in the world with speakers. It's a way into various cultures while knowing vaguely that you have fundamental values in common with whoever's hosting you based on the fact that you both chose to learn Esperanto.

[@parksideevangelicalchurch2886]

People learn Esperanto because they're interested in more than one culture. They learn it because want to speak on equal terms with people from all over the world. They learn it because they like the culture that the global Esperanto community has developed over the last century, its music, its poetry, its literature and the friendships it enables.

[@ronaldonmg]

@@ccaagg for those who don't know: Pasporta Servo pretty much is couchsurfing for people who speak Esperanto, and has existed for decades before couchsurfing