Hello, everyone! It's Evildea, your god.
Tonight I want to talk about a subject
which might annoy some Esperantists
and even anger others, I don't know.
Well, the subject of this videoblog is
whether Esperanto, when it becomes
the second language of the whole world,
will destroy the other world languages
or save them.
I simply want to say now,
before I start my speech
on this subject, that it's not about
the Esperantists themselves.
Most of the Esperantists
who I know
in fact want to save languages.
For example, I myself, I work
with the Sydney Language Festival.
Most of the board
of that festival association
are Esperantists.
I want to speak now
about the nature of a second language.
It really doesn't matter if it's Esperanto
or if it's another language.
Of course, Esperanto is
the main language or almost
the only language of my channel.
I sometimes use English.
Also, it of course
is important for the future
of the Esperanto world.
We all know that in the modern world,
that little by little English
is extinguishing other languages,
simply due to the fact
that those languages are small
economically and in military strength
or potential, I suppose.
Little by little other languages
are destroyed by English.
Not only English destroys other languages.
Almost all important languages
and large languages
destroy other languages.
For example, Chinese.
It now-- or not Chinese itself,
but Mandarin.
It now is extinguishing the local dialects
in China.
I simply want to talk about Esperanto.
Imagine-- for example, these days
Esperanto is a small language.
It in fact is large
compared to most languages,
but compared to the primary
important languages,
to the top 100 languages,
by size, I suppose.
They are so much larger,
I can't imagine.
Esperanto still is small,
but it is rapidly growing.
Imagine-- for example,
I simply want to talk about
an imaginary situation.
I simply will choose a random situation
out of my head.
Imagine there is a city
between France and Italy.
There, French and Italian are spoken,
and imagine that every person
learns Esperanto in school.
So, everyone can speak
either Italian or French
or maybe both languages,
but everyone certainly can speak Esperanto
So in the city, everyone speaks
their own languages at home,
and when they go out,
they speak French
with French shopkeepers,
but sometimes they meet
Italian shopkeepers,
who don't know French,
and then they simply use Esperanto.
The goal of the language, isn't it?
Imagine that all of these shops
want to advertise their wares
to the French and the Italians.
They of course set up signs
in two languages-- or three languages.
So in French, in Italian,
and in Esperanto.
A little later, one of the shopkeepers
decides that he wants to save some money,
or he simply doesn't see a reason to use
French, Italian, and Esperanto,
because he does know
that everyone speaks Esperanto
as a second language.
So, he simply sets up a sign
which uses only Esperanto.
Of course, the French see it,
they can read it,
because they studied Esperanto in school.
The Italians can read it;
it's not a problem.
Some other shopkeepers see
that they lack space on the menus,
and so on.
They simply decide to use only Esperanto.
It is the second language
of the entire community.
Yes, some speak French,
and yes, some speak Italian.
It really doesn't matter.
Simply use Esperanto.
So imagine, in this situation,
that little by little
almost every sign
in the town
only has Esperanto text,
because they don't need to use three
languages at the same time.
Maybe the local government says
that they have to use it,
but really imagine
that in most of the world,
that will not happen.
Imagine now, that every sign
is only in Esperanto,
but people in the street
can speak French
and Italian.
Imagine then, that there is a marriage
between a French woman and an Italian man.
They come together and have a baby
and then, they think,
"Well, we both speak Esperanto.
You speak French;
I speak Italian.
We always speak Esperanto together.
The local second language is Esperanto.
We'll just teach Esperanto
to the child."
Not intentionally!
Maybe we just speak it,
because it is the most fitting language.
Then, the child grows
and is educated
and only speaks Esperanto.
All of their friends
may speak French
or Italian,
but all of them understand Esperanto.
So little by little,
the children, when they play together,
simply use Esperanto,
and no longer use French or Italian.
Probably, all of them understand it,
but they simply choose to use Esperanto.
When they become adults,
the main language of that group
of former children
now is Esperanto,
and everyone uses Esperanto together.
After one or two generations,
they no longer see a reason to teach
French in school
or Italian in school.
I know that in France
according to the state constitution
you must teach French,
but this is simply
a made-up situation.
Imagine then,
that all of them speak Esperanto,
some still know French
or Italian
but they mainly use it
with their grandparents.
Now, the most important language
no longer is just the second language,
Epseranto, but it now is
the primary language of the community.
Many people still
know French and Italian,
but Esperanto now holds the position
of the language of the community,
the language of the local economy,
and probably later,
of the language of the state.
Now imagine bigger.
Little by little--
for example, here in Australia.
We all speak English.
For example, I create a film,
and I want to sell it
to the rest of the world.
Well, I know that in the US,
some people-- not some.
Everyone speaks English,
but I also know that now,
everyone speaks Esperanto
as a second language.
And I know that in China,
everyone speaks Esperanto
as a second language,
but they speak Chinese
as the primary language.
Now, many of them can use Esperanto
and it in fact is the primary language
of some families.
But I want to sell my film.
Do I choose English,
which is the main language
in some parts of the world?
Or do I now use Esperanto,
which little by little is becoming
the most important language
of some parts of the world,
simply for the fact
that it little by little
took that role?
No, I simply make my films
in Esperanto.
So little by little,
not only the economy
will use Esperanto as a second language,
but the film industry will use it.
Later, many more people
perhaps will see the other languages
as languages of the past.
We no longer need them,
because we all speak Esperanto now.
So, you can imagine
after a hundred, two hundred years,
I don't know how long,
I'm just rambling on.
But imagine, that now the whole world
uses Esperanto
as a second language.
They not only use it
in international communications,
they use it in cities, in shops,
and even as the primary family language
in various parts of the world.
Little by little,
when for example China uses Esperanto
almost everywhere,
and the US almost everywhere,
the rest of the world
simply follows.
You can imagine
that Esperanto little by little
would become the most important language
and what would happen to the traditional
languages, the natural languages?
They simply little by little
would be extinguished because the
later generations no longer see a reason
to learn them.
Well, I just want to say now
due to the fact that the whole world
is connected by the internet.
Those languages, yes, might die,
but we still will have
records of them.
You can still listen to
those languages in every situation
simply through the internet,
and through historical copies
of the language.
But it would no longer be
the language of daily communication.
I simply want to raise this subject,
because I know that many people say
"Oh, Esperanto can save
other languages!"
I simply want
to somewhat contradict that idea.
Yes, it can.
Not the language itself,
but the Esperantists,
because the majority
of the current Esperantists
love other languages
and want to save them.
In fact, the majority of Esperantists
are much more protective
than the general public.
But imagine, when later generations
start using Esperanto more and more
and then, people start to learn it,
not for idealistic reasons,
but for economic reasons,
for various other reasons,
or simply due to suitability
of the language.
We can imagine then
that the other languages will quickly die,
simply because
they are no longer fitting.
So, I just want to raise this subject
and also I want to ask you,
what you think about this idea.
I think, that really
this will probably happen
if Esperanto attains
the most important position
of languages, I suppose.
If it doesn't reach that,
maybe English will simply take
that post or that position
between the languages.
But I believe, that Esperanto
can more quickly take it
than English,
because English is a really hard language
but due to the ease of Esperanto and
due to the ideas of the language itself.
It in fact can, if we aren't careful,
kill every other language,
unintentionally, quickly, much more
quickly than other, natural languages.
I just want to raise this subject,
and see your-- well, not see,
read your comments about it,
so just write below
if you have your own ideas.
That's all! So if you liked this speech,
like it, share it,
subscribe to my channel
if you still haven't subscribed,
and I will see you all
in the next film.
And if you aren't there,
I will find you
and I will kill your family language!
(evil laughter)
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