On the other hand, it is kind of awesome that people with no knowledge of Esperanto but knowledge of two or three European languages can immediately understand everything you say—as I just did.
Agreed, tho my sentence is probably easier than average because I haven’t used Esperanto for years now, so I’m much more likely to remember vocabulary similar to languages I know.
Knowing some of a Latin language and a Germanic one, plus knowledge of basic syntax (nounds end in -o, adjectives in -a, verbs in -is/-as/-os (past/present/future), adverbs in -e, plural is -j, accusative has an extra -n) is enough for understanding a lot of simple content.
And this is ‘knowledge of’ in a very loose sense—I don’t know any European languages except English, and I could still work it out. (I did take ‘parolas’ from French ‘parler’.)
Iste non es le problema maxime. Le problema major es que paucos homines parla Esperanto. Io non lo usa desde longe tempore.
(caveat: I do not speak Interlingua at all. This is just what I managed to put together from a grammar handbook and a dictionary)
Had Zamenhof created his language to be more like Interlingua, we might be using this in international communication by today. Compared with Esperanto, it’s easier for Romance speakers, but adequately more difficult for the others.
On the other hand, it is kind of awesome that people with no knowledge of Esperanto but knowledge of two or three European languages can immediately understand everything you say—as I just did.
Agreed, tho my sentence is probably easier than average because I haven’t used Esperanto for years now, so I’m much more likely to remember vocabulary similar to languages I know.
Knowing some of a Latin language and a Germanic one, plus knowledge of basic syntax (nounds end in -o, adjectives in -a, verbs in -is/-as/-os (past/present/future), adverbs in -e, plural is -j, accusative has an extra -n) is enough for understanding a lot of simple content.
And this is ‘knowledge of’ in a very loose sense—I don’t know any European languages except English, and I could still work it out. (I did take ‘parolas’ from French ‘parler’.)
You’d like Interlingua then:
(caveat: I do not speak Interlingua at all. This is just what I managed to put together from a grammar handbook and a dictionary)
Had Zamenhof created his language to be more like Interlingua, we might be using this in international communication by today. Compared with Esperanto, it’s easier for Romance speakers, but adequately more difficult for the others.