Why did Esperanto fail as a common language? I learned Esperanto out of curiosity, and I am not a fanatic Esperantist. I know many Esperantists from various countries, even those who don’t speak English or other major international languages well. Our friendship wouldn’t have happened without Esperanto. Esperanto is successful in this aspect. I believe Esperanto is not perfect, no language in this world is perfect. Esperanto is not perfect or has failed because people who opposed it promote negative comments about it. If they don’t want to learn it, they can leave it and don’t need to comment. They express negative comments in articles or videos to attract uneducated followers who would jump to conclusions without further research. Esperanto is indeed Euro-centric. The creator lived in a European neighborhood. Esperanto would be Asian-centric if the creator had lived in Asia when he created Esperanto. This Euro-centric characteristic is not a problem for Asian Esperantists. They care more about how useful Esperanto is than what Esperanto resembles. Esperanto doesn’t have a culture. This is true at the beginning of its creation because an artificial language is an imaginary product. However, the more speakers Esperanto has, the more common traits these speakers have, such as jokes that only Esperantists understand, or traditions that only Esperantists practice. Esperanto is an artificial language, not a natural language. Some think it doesn’t deserve to be a common language for human communication because it doesn’t evolve like a natural language. It is true but, at least, it is created and inspired by human languages. I am a programmer, I see Esperanto as if it was a programming language. Programmers from different countries without speaking the same human language can read and modify codes written in the same programming language. Reference: https://www.neeslanguageblog.com/2024/08/why-did-esperanto-fail-as-common.html

The Advantage of Reading in the Original Language Do you think the information you read in your language will be the same in another language? Most of you may not think about this question until it causes a problem. Mistranslation happens everywhere. It is due to the differences in expressing a concept across different languages. You say "take medicine" in English, "eat medicine" in Chinese, and "drink medicine" in Indonesian. Three phrases in three different languages mean the same. Therefore, it is a task for a translator to understand the context before translating. A word-by-word translation is not recommended because context is the most important. Imagine yourself in a gathering. What do you say in your language when you want to give a toast to everyone? And now, try to translate that into the foreign languages you know. That is why there is a saying you only can translate well into your native language. Because you grow up with that language so you know what sounds right. Yes, what sounds right, instead of what is translated right. Although you may have a different opinion saying that one can train itself to be proficient to the native level in a foreign language. That is true, but you will acquire that skill and knowledge through training instead of a natural experience. Reading in the original language is advantageous, so a wrong translation will not mislead you. Some languages have many words for something that can be expressed more simply in another language. For example, the Inuit language has 50 words for snow, and Indonesian has different words for cooked and uncooked rice. This characteristic usually reflects what is important to the people of that language. So, snow is as essential to the Inuit people as rice is to the Indonesian people. I prefer to read in the original language to get the correct information from the point of view of native speakers. And there is no chance for mistranslation to occur and mislead me.

Are you interested to find out about Toki Pona? Leave your questions below Sina wile ala wile kama sona e toki pona? Weka e wile sona sina lon ni