I recently went to Costa Rica to minister to some orphan kids. Many of those kids still had parents, but had merely been taken away from them because they were horrible pieces of shit. Most of the orphans were teenage girls. You know why? I'm sure you could guess, but I'll tell you anyway: their dads sold their bodies for money. They're not at the orphanage because they have no parents, they're at the orphanage because their lives are in danger. No one loves them, no one gives them the time of day. Not even their caretakers. They just do what's necessary to keep them alive, and that's it.
I didn't exactly feel too happy about the fact that I got the chance to show these kids some love, and I didn't even speak their language.
It was made worse when this little girl (probably 5 or 6 years old) came and asked me (with the help of a translator, obviously) if I was coming back. I promised her I would, and I fully intend to be able to talk to her when I do. So you can say it's some stupid fad if you want, but I have a legitimate reason. Can't exactly show a sad, unloved orphan that someone cares with the help of chemistry or biology.

Wait, so it offers Latin and dead Greek but no Esperanto...

So it offers two highly influential languages, but not an artificial construct which no one ever spoke natively.

Am I the only who doesn't use applications? I just talk to people whether online or at work. Listening to foreign radio/television works incredibly well too. I highly reccommend RFI.fr le journal dans français facile for those who are pioneers in the French language. It worked in my younger days.

Edited 4/11/2017 00:50:31

I would very much prefer a tutor, but no mucho dineros. I'm doing the best I can with Spanish-speaking friends helping me out, Spanish music, and Spanish-learning apps. I'm about to try out a course that supposedly is the same thing used to teach US diplomats foreign languages in as little as 25 weeks, so I'm hoping that's effective.

Well, in school systems, there is "immersion" (student exchange for organs).

There is also correspondence à distance.
Google search for those terms gave me as one of top results : http://roget.biz/9-reseaux-sociaux-pour-apprendre-les-langues-et-echanger-avec-des-natifs


You can do Google English Translate in Chrome.
Basically, there are sites on the internet for correspondence à distance in foreign language that work on the same principle as couch surfing (the bed-mafia guys/girls).

----

Peer-to-peer
or
Tutoring

is a powerful method.

----

Or trying skyping.
Or integrating into Spanish communities, like spanish MMOs. :/

I played one/some MMOs with many portuguese people (significative chunk).


Or maybe some spanish open forums.

Edited 4/11/2017 01:24:14

hmm I don't know if I trust Hostile's advice on how to learn/use languages

So it offers two highly influential languages, but not an artificial construct which no one ever spoke natively.

two tongues that noone speaks but folk still learn to be posh, or one tongue which likely outdoes them both which gives to the greater good if you learn. Some do speak Esperanto natively btw which is more than can be said for "Latin" or "Dead Greek". the only reason folk learn these tongues is 1. foreign wordstock (which is just the same if you learn Spanish or French or modern Greek) and 2. reading some books in their root tongues (ok maybe this part they win but not by much)

Edited 4/11/2017 02:12:44

Yeah, esperanto was made to combine all the language into one.
So it is like learning 1% of every language.


Languages like chinese didn't exist during this time. This is why the creator didn't try to include it somehow.

Languages like chinese didn't exist during this time. This is why the creator didn't try to include it somehow.

No, he just didn't know it and noone he knew knew it.

1. foreign wordstock (which is just the same if you learn Spanish or French or modern Greek)

The latin and greek wordstock in modern languages come from ancient latin and greek, not from their modern counterparts. It's like if you were trying to understand russian wordstock by learning polish (or even silesian). Especially French is a bad example (it;s perfect for understanding the french wordstock, however!).

2. reading some books in their root tongues (ok maybe this part they win but not by much)

That's definitely a plus!

So you gave reasons to learn ancient greek and latin... which is two more than for learning esperanto. :P

Some do speak Esperanto natively btw which is more than can be said for "Latin" or "Dead Greek".

hmm I stand corrected but I wouldn't be surprised if Star Trek fanatic couples were learning their kids klingon (making them native speakers) either.

Yeah, esperanto was made to combine all the language into one.
So it is like learning 1% of every language.

Learning "1% of a language" is like learning none. Nor "combining all" makes it comprehensible to anyone... especially if completely different words in different languages can sound the same. Unless you are basing off already similar languages, like interlingua for romance, interslavic for slavic.. or standard german for modern Germany's dialects and languages. Otherwise it's a big mess.

im mainly learning esperanto so i can find it easier to learn more languages later on

The latin and greek wordstock in modern languages come from ancient latin and greek

1: they come from both (trottoir, abattoir, cache-nez, plage, use, attack, develop), likely more from the modern tongues (use 1: you shouldn't be saying such mean words anyway and 2: if you do come across them knowing French or Spanish will be enough to know what they mean almost always. And even if you were right, there is Latina sina inflexione (Latin without inflections), a tongue designed to teach mainly wordstock in the sense you mean and to understand any Latin writ. There's also Slovo for Slavic tongues - better than learning Old Church Slavic that has much changed or something like you would suggest. There are actually several tongues like these designed to be understood by each member of the mix of tongues, and also to teach wordstock.

That's definitely a plus!

K, spend literally thousands of hours to just read...what again? I'm pretty sure no book in the top 100 most-selling books of all time was originally written in Latin. Look at this whole list, nowhere is Latin written here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_books

Esperanto isn't very useful either but at least it is part of a noble goal.

Learning "1% of a language" is like learning none.

Esperanto roughly takes 2/3 of its wordstock from Latin roots and the other 1/3 from Germanic with a few Slavic words. Zamenhof never knew any tongue besides Indo-European ones.

Jeg studerer norsk. :D

Edited 4/15/2017 00:12:42

Bump

Edited 5/14/2017 04:56:02

Esperanto is a useless abomination of a language.

Jeg studerer norsk også!
Feel free to pm me asking for my duolingo name