Monday, August 11, 2014

Esperanto

On August 3rd I wrote about our new friends from the Netherlands, Nanne Kalma & Ankie van der Meer. Lou Ann made this short video of Nanne & Ankie playing their music on the porch of the Black Schooner gift shop.


I mentioned once before that Nanne and Ankie are the only people I've ever known who speak Esperanto. According to lernu!, "a multilingual website that provides free courses and information on Esperanto," "you can learn Esperanto easily and free of charge."

This is what I learned from Nanne & Ankie, and from the above mentioned web site:
  • Esperanto is most useful for communicating among people of diverse nations who do not have a common mother tongue. 
  • It doesn't belong to one people or country, so it works as a neutral language. 
  • When you use Esperanto, you feel more equal from a linguistic standpoint than when, for example, you speak Spanish with a native Spanish speaker. 
  • Thanks to the structure of Esperanto, it's usually much easier to master than other foreign languages. 
  • Esperanto evolves and lives just like other languages, and it can be used to express the most varied facets of human thought and emotion. 
With between 100,000 and 2,000,000 people worldwide who speak Esperanto fluently the language is particularly useful for international travel (follow this link to learn more).

Just thought I would share the above interesting information that I learned right here on Ocracoke Island. Maybe a few of our readers will be inspired to learn Esperanto!

Our latest Ocracoke Newsletter is an article about the Ocracoke Crab Festival which was held each May from 1984 to 1989. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news072114.htm.

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:48 AM

    This has to be the next best thing to actually being on Ocracoke Island. What a fantastic beginning of my day for NC Mainlander to see this amazing video. Thanks so much for sharing. Worth replaying and I will. Sensational!

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  2. Anonymous8:57 AM

    That was absolutely delightful. What a wonderful, rousing tune made all the more special by such a carefree singer. Just magical. I daresay one of your best posts ever, Philip.

    I'll have to share with my wife, but... This is our STAY-cation week--one we HAD considered spending on Ocracoke before deciding to defer 'til a Thanksgiving visit. Seeing today's vid may spark some second thoughts by her, as it just did for me.

    Regardless, what a treat.

    Thank you, thank you, thank you.

    As always.

    :-)

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  3. Debbie Leonard10:49 AM

    Very nice...thank you for that.

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  4. Nanne and Ankie are known among the Esperanto community in nearly every country of the world. They have certainly performed in dozens of countries. I confirm that it is NOT the numbers but the quality of Esperanto speakers that lets you meet speakers in most countries of the world. You will always have local company as an Esperanto speaker, be it in conferences or in private homes. I've used Esperanto in travels 36 countries and in nearly every country on-line. I recommend Facebook groups and social network Ipernity. Instruction is free at Lernu.

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