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"English for dollars. Esperanto for friends." Is this a good slogan? La angla por dolaroj. Ĉu ĉi tio estas bona varbofrazo?
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Maybe this is better?
POR AMIKO
("one who hopes for a friend"?)
I could see putting that on a T-shirt, pin, hat, etc.
Advantages:
- It doesn't disparage any other language.
- It's in Esperanto.
- It uses only standard Latin letters.
- It's pronounceable.
- It's short.
- It's positive.
- It might even be a good ice-breaker. ;)
Okay, maybe not.
Okay, maybe not. It seemed really great at the time. :P
Maybe just "Esperanto - for friends". :)
Maybe not
I'd have to agree with your second thought. Going around with a shirt in Esperanto that says 'Hoping for a Friend' in any language to me makes it sound like Esperantists are lonely and cannot find friends.
Reminds me a bit of the jokes about trekkies, or even railfans (of which I am both!)
--
Dave RUTAN
Nov-ĵerzeja Esperantisto
A New Jersey Esperantist
http://esperanto-nj.tripod.com
Bravo!
I can't tell you how much I love that. It's pithy, and entertaining in the way it feels almost like a classified ad. I would definitely buy a T-shirt/pin with that on it, provided that it is aesthetically pleasing. I could make it myself, but I kind of like the idea that a bit of my money would go towards the Esperanto movement as well. It would make the item more meaningful to me, silly as it sounds.
Tre kudos on the phrase. :-)
What's wrong with dollars?
Why not Esperanto for dollars - and euros and yen?
If I ever get the opportunity to visit Europe or South America, I'll certainly want to speak with local people, but I'll also want to eat at local restaurants and shop for local crafts. Here at home, I enjuy drinking Frech wines and Mexican and Sumatran coffees. I would prefer to buy all these things from small, locally owned businesses rather than multinational corporations.
Unfortunately, most local business owners don't speak multiple languages. (I certainly don't.) And they can't afford to hire English speaking staff.
The dominance of English and American corporations in world trade is the main reason English has become the de facto international language. The dominance of English in turn reinforces the power of those corporations. Esperanto could provide small businesses an alternative.
What do you think?
Community, not Commerce.
English is the de facto language of international commerce, and economic factors are still in its favor. The fact that Esperanto has superior qualities does not overcome the obstacle of the established widespread use of ad hoc national languages. It seems likely to me that Esperanto may never achieve a large enough user base to be feasible as a trade language, nor for buying dinner in restaurants around the world. Suggesting a "fina venko" of that sort is pretty close to a bald-faced lie.
Imagine that local craft vendor you mentioned. He or she would likely have learned only as much Esperanto as was absolutely necessary for their trade, so mostly it's prices and descriptions of painted wooden eggs and matryoska dolls or some-such. And let's face it, most people are not going to physically travel around the world, so imagine the "conversation" you might have via instant-messenger. Yeah... uh-huh. It might help if they have a nice user photo to look at.
On the other hand, the Esperanto community is a real selling point for the language. Sure there are factions, disputes and grudges now and then but as a whole there's a surprising closeness and trust among Esperantists. We're people who don't mind bucking conventional thinking and putting our time and effort into something which makes better sense.
I like it this way, and I want a slogan which appeals to others who would feel the same.
I see what you're trying to
I see what you're trying to get at, but I think it can backfire. One, comparing to another language always has the chance of offending people -- so I would avoid saying something "bad" about English. Two, you *can* make friends with English ... but we want to express succinctly that with Esperanto things are somehow more rewarding (and also easier to find and make those friends). On the other side, you *can* financially benefit from Esperanto: my travelling through Japan with Pasporta Servo saved me thousands of dollars in hotel bills -- hotels in Japan are not cheap :)
So I think you need to rethink the phrase.
But I see what you're trying to say: People learn Esperanto because (for the most part) they want to communicate with other people, and have that rewarding personal contact. So the body of speakers of Esperanto is a selected group for that kind of people. Often in non-English countries, the people who speak English either (A) learned it not out of choice or (B) learned it in order to make a living. So they're a group of people who are a selected sample of a different kind of people.
With Esperanto, you know that the person wants to have the rewarding experience that also made you learn Esperanto.
English is for rich, powerful friends.
I deliberately used the word "dollars" to allude to the usonan hegemony. Yes, it may rub some people the wrong way but everyone knows it's true.
Do you suppose that anyone learns English so they can make friends in France, Brazil, Vietnam or Kenya? Not likely. They choose English primarily because it's a way to get "in" with the prevailing culture of wealth and influence.
I like the slogan because it raises awareness of the culture issue and presents Esperanto as an altruistic solution. My guess is that it will appeal to the kind of people that I would like to talk with.