On Mon, 24 Feb 2003, Brian Wisti wrote:

> Is Esperanto or another auxiliary language practical?  You would basically

There seem to be many users of Esperanto, and they have a conference
each year.  There is some literature written in it, and some
esperanto-centric newspapers or journals, but I expect other
auxilliary langauges could claim the same, as could Klingon and
Tolkien Elvish enthusiasts, perhaps.  Esperanto has been criticised
as being too European in flavour.  Lojban is supposed to have a
grammar which YACC can handle.  Ido is descended from Esperanto but
has fewer users, but is supposed to be more regular.  I don't know
the current state of Volapuk.  People use these languages, so there
is some practicality.

> need one person (or team) in each language to learn Esperanto.  Is that

I know some on this list already do, but that is why I emphaise
automatic translation.  This (machine translation) is still difficult.

> better than choosing some other language as the "central" language to

But which language?  Knowing how my language is so irregular
("Power mowers are thoroughly tough, though",
 "It's `it's` when it is `it is`, and `its` otherwise"), could I really ask
someone to learn that?  :-)  OK, we don't really have cases, or
accented characters, but even so.

> translate to and from?  Can you point us to other projects that have chosen

No, I can't point you to any, except the EU that I mentioned, and
I'm not sure about that.

> this path?  Mind you, they don't have to be limited to programming.  Any sort
> of large-scale documentation project would be valid.
>
> Okay, no more "doubting mode".  I'm going to go look up some Esperanto
> resources for the heck of it :-)

If you find any good automatic translators, let me know. :-)
>
> -Brian W
>
> --
> brian at coolnamehere dot com
> http://coolnamehere.com
>
>
        Hugh