Will Esperanto Save or Extinguish the Other World Languages

In this videoblog, I philosophize about what would happen if Esperanto became the second language of the whole world.

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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)

As always, I want to thank

my donors at Patreon,

and those are: Robert Poort,

Alexander Tollfson, Koltarm,

Tommy Linsley, Ludisto,

Shayne Power, Jzknuckles,

Sarah SC, Lupe, Robert Nielson,

and Slava Shklyaev.

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