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DUO-Language and Communication
3 years ago
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If you are reading this, you speak English.

Maybe it is your first language or maybe a combination of good luck and effort allowed you to master it as a second language. Not everyone has access to the hours of instruction necessary to learn English and few will ever speak it with the fluency of a native speaker.

If you were excluded from the Global Community by language, and especially if you were a member of the Global Majority who live on a few dollars or less a day, how would you like the pressure to choose between maintainng your own language, culture and dignity, or scrambling to get by in one of the dominent languages?

For the sake of the thought experiment, imagine that the internet and Hollywood and the UN now uses Chinese instead of English. How frustrating that you cannot now participate unless you spend 2200 hours learning Chinese, and still feel inferior after that!

Fortunately, there is a DUO solution, which is practical and already underway. 125 years ago, a DUO-hearted problem-solver designed a language specifically to be easily learned and to belong, as a second language, equally to all. The language is Esperanto and it now has a global community of a few million speakers.

You can learn Esperanto in 10-15 hours of free internet lessons and about 80 hours of practice to achieve fluency. It is a lot of fun for travelling and internet friendships and it shows your respect for those who will never be able to afford to speak to you in English.

Here are some links to get you started:

This post was modified from its original form on 18 Nov, 13:32

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