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Learning Esperanto using Duolingo

(21 Posts)
StarDreamer Thu 18-Aug-22 10:04:17

Learning Esperanto using Duolingo

LINK > www.duolingo.com/courses

StarDreamer Thu 18-Aug-22 10:22:01

I have known some Esperanto for many years. I learned from a book Teach Yourself Esperanto.

Esperanto is a constructed language. It is rather beautiful. It contains enough to be a language, yet does not have the irregularities that need to be learned with a natural language.

For example, in English we have I am, you are, he is. So the words am, are, is all need to be learned and where to use each of them learned too. Similarly with French. Yet with Esperanto, the same word is used, namely estas. So Mi estas, vi estas, li estas. And the same -as ending in the present tense is used for all verbs.

The story of the inventor of Esperanto and how he invented it is also of great interest.

LINK > en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._L._Zamenhof

LINK > en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Life_of_Zamenhof

I tried for an advanced placement on the Duolingo course and got quite a way in.

However, I removed that and started to follow the course from the start as if new to the language.

I am findimg the teaching method excellent and I learning words that I did not know before.

Also, having learned from a book, there was no sound, yet the Duolingo course has sound so that is something new for me.

StarDreamer Fri 19-Aug-22 11:40:08

Bonan Tagon.

Ĉu vi lernos ĉi tiun belan lingvon?

Good day.

Will you learn this beautiful language?

Ailidh Fri 19-Aug-22 11:43:21

I'm amazed at what you can learn on Duolingo.

I'm learning Gaelic and loving it.

I fancied a look at Icelandic but it isn't available yet - but Klingon is!! ?

LauraPern Sun 02-Oct-22 12:37:06

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MawtheMerrier Sun 02-Oct-22 12:46:13

That’s good.
In what way do you find Esperanto,useful?

LauraPern Wed 05-Oct-22 08:22:09

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Germanshepherdsmum Wed 05-Oct-22 08:24:41

Maybe see if DuoLingo teaches English.

Oopsadaisy1 Wed 05-Oct-22 08:25:06

MissOops is learning Italian she’s doing very well with Duolingo as her friend who is bilingual verifies, she needs to go to Italy now and try it out for real.

Who speaks Esperanto?

FannyCornforth Wed 05-Oct-22 08:26:50

Oopsadaisy1

MissOops is learning Italian she’s doing very well with Duolingo as her friend who is bilingual verifies, she needs to go to Italy now and try it out for real.

Who speaks Esperanto?

OP, late of this parish

JackyB Wed 05-Oct-22 08:43:19

I've been doing Polish for over a year with Duolingo but I certainly don't feel I know enough to actually go there and try and speak it. I'm still struggling with the declensions of the adjectives in Unit 2. I do a couple of lessons every day but still get them wrong. Polish has 7 cases, 3 genders, and as with any language, the prepositions are utterly illogical. Each preposition requires a certain case, also not necessarily logical.

I haven't even progressed past the present tense yet.

As for speaking it - I have very high standards there, and 5 consonants in a row is no rarity. I remember now that I gave up Russian 40 years ago because it was so difficult to pronounce.

Actually Polish does sound quite sexy when spoken fluently. The French one among the Slavic languages. Slovenian is the Italian one. I remember hearing some Slovenians talking for the first time. I thought they were speaking Italian, because of the intonation, but couldn't work out why I couldn't understand it, the words sounded more like Russian.

Oh, gosh, sorry for rambling.

Star Dreamer didn't last long, did he? I think he thought he was misunderstood.

MawtheMerrier Wed 05-Oct-22 08:51:05

LauraPern

This information useful for me

In what way?

Oopsadaisy1 Wed 05-Oct-22 08:58:46

Fannycornforth but who would I speak it to? If I went to France and tried to speak using Esperanto how far would I get?

Apart from online Esperanto speakers that I could chat to, I personally would feel it to be a waste of my time.

I went to night classes for Italian lessons many years ago, which was great whilst I was speaking to others on my course, but when I went to Italy they spoke so incredibly fast that I couldn’t understand them! And my Italian was painfully slooooooooow.

You really need to spend time in the Country to use the language and I think for me, that ship has sailed. Sigh…..

ixion Wed 05-Oct-22 09:13:44

Best ask the OP that. It would be really interesting to see how it all works.

Patsy70 Wed 05-Oct-22 09:19:34

I’m about to begin learning Spanish with, Duolngo, as recommended by Gnetters.

TerriBull Wed 05-Oct-22 09:47:34

I love Duolingo I'm learning French. I've always wondered as to the usefulness of Esperanto, from what I understood it was an amalgamation of several European languages and it never really took off. Like Oops up thread I'd just consider it a waste of time, I'd rather just concentrate on one or maybe two European languages that are widely used.

twoxii Mon 06-Nov-23 08:53:03

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Primrose53 Mon 06-Nov-23 08:56:46

I started to teach myself Esperanto a very long time ago when I was about 13. I think my book was the same as the OP. Teach Yourself Esperanto. Think it was yellow and black.

25Avalon Mon 06-Nov-23 09:09:48

Years ago I learnt Spanish in what was then state of the art language laboratory where you recorded yourself and played back after hearing a Spanish sentence. It improved my pronunciation and realising I was painfully slow got me to speak faster. However, when I went to Saville no one seemed to understand! I ended up having conversations in French with a French family, having studied French for 6 years. Esperanto is a lovely idea but sadly in practice there aren’t enough people who want to learn it unlike Cornish which is part of Cornwall’s heritage.

RosiesMaw Mon 06-Nov-23 09:22:26

Another Zombie thread revived by a spammer hmm

aggie Mon 06-Nov-23 09:33:02

Yes Maw it is an old thread , but it reminds me to have another go at Gaelic !
My Granddaughters go to a Gaelic school , I gave up after their giggles