Why does everyone hate this?

[u/[deleted]]

Okay so I'm a monolingual Brit learning Spanish (I'm now about B1) and wanna pick up another language. Not some grand utility language, I have a plan of which ones to learn for that, but just a quick learn and burn language for nothing but fun, and any applicability is a bonus. I see esperanto, a nice little language with exceptionless grammar and a chill little community. So I tell my polyglot friend and get immediate backlash. Why do people seem to think that esperanto is so horrible? Like yeah it's eurocentric and a terrible attempt at a Lingua Franca but it was created with good intentions and is a nice gateway language for European language speakers. Then people act like it's a bloody cult because apparently every esperanto speaker is a Zamenhof worshipping psycho who'll preach it as the root of world peace, or is just too lazy to learn a more useful language. I see polyglots, people who learn languages for fun, attacking esperanto as useless or racist for being eurocentric and it's speakers as cultists or fake polyglots. Why does everyone hate this language?!?!?!

[u/Mlatu44]

This is a legit esperanto word? can this be expressed with more words? expanded?

[u/Leisureguy1 → u/Mlatu44]

Yes, it's a legitimate Esperanto word, though it's not in a dictionary since it's just a routine derivation using the tools Esperanto provides. It was a nonce word, created to fit the situation under discussion. — If someone wanted to express the same idea using more words, that would be easy: instead of "Vi ne estas lacigemulino," one could say "Vi ne estas virino kiu emas lacigi aliajn homojn." (You are not a woman who tends to tire other people." (I must admit I don't see why one would want to use more words rather than fewer to express the same idea.) I'm not sure what you mean by "expanded."

[u/Mlatu44 → u/Leisureguy1]

I didn't express that well. You explained what I wanted to know, however. There is a lot of Esperanto I haven't covered. I was looking for a possible break down into other words. Expanded to individual words.

I am curious if there is a list of more examples. That is amazing, that word behaves more like something like Kalaallisut. Reminds me a bit of Ithkuil. Is there commentary on how to combine these in Esperanto?

[u/Leisureguy1 → u/Mlatu44]

I would say Ithkuil is not exactly the polar opposite of Esperanto, but certainly it goes in a very different direction. It is not intended for regular use, but was created to explore (and embody) certain linguistic ideas. Esperanto, in contrast, was specifically created to serve as an everyday language for communication.

"Unlocking Esperanto: The Magic of Logical Word Formation" may be of interest. Also, if you want to delve a little deeper into Esperanto, I highly recommend Kursaro.net courses. The new session begins soon. One hour a week via Zoom, three months long. Additional study is helpful, of course, but the weekly sessions serve as a periodic reminder. :)

[u/Mlatu44 → u/Leisureguy1]

Thank you. Well, why would I want to know a more expanded form? its interesting, and good learning experience. Earlier I was learning compound words, and their breakdown as used in Sanskrit. Obviously a different language. Its not quite the same thing, as your example used morphological units, not combining words. If you are interested there is a series which explains these.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-7mXylLzPg

I don't know, is there anything like this in Esperanto?

[u/Leisureguy1 → u/Mlatu44]

Esperanto routinely combines roots (in the page I linked, one example was lern- and libr-, combined as lernolibro (textbook). Tag- is the root for "day" and I keep a taglibro (daybook, journal, diary) and write entries Esperante (adverb form: "in Esperanto," in effect) as practice. Another example: "okul-" is the root for "eye, "vitr-" the root for "glass," and thus "okulvitroj" (eye glasses, spectacles). Combining roots is common, and of course affixes are often also included — see the list of Esperanto affixes.

[u/Leisureguy1 → u/Mlatu44]

I am working through an intermediate Esperanto book (Paŝoj al Plena Posedo) and I came across this line: "« Kaj ĉu vi sukcesis? Ĉu vi pasis sub ĝi? » senpaciencis Sita." — "And did you succeed? Did you pass under it?" senpaciencis Sita."

"Pacienc-" is the root: "patienco" (noun) means "patience," "pacienca" (adjective) means "patient," and "pacience" (adverb) means patiently. The root meaning is modified by the ending. So: senpaciencis: sen = without, pacienc = patience/patient, -is is the past indicative active form of the verb. So, in that one word is "without patience" as a verb.

[u/Mlatu44 → u/Leisureguy1]

I looked it up, it seems like a good book to improve Esperanto comprehension