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maybe a bit too much on the google thing...

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Last week, I ran into a fellow to whom I had been introduced the week before. After some idle conversation, he startled me by asking about Esperanto! It turned out that, after our initial meeting, he had googled me, and links to Esperanto (such as this blog) show up fairly high on the page.

An interesting discussion followed, but I was definitely a little shaken by the experience. Is this what I want my students -- or parents of students, or prospective employers, business partners, etc. -- to find if they search for info about me?

oh, why the heck not? Esperanto is hardly my guiltiest pleasure, though I'm not sure the others are accessible online. (I suppose there are still some links to Pokemon out there). And, if it bothered me enough, I could use a pseudonym (is "doktoro suferanto" taken?)

I suppose it suggests a new strategy for publicising the language -- post furiously on your blog, then do something that causes your name to be googled. Send out resumes, or commit a noteworthy crime.

Embrace it.

I also put Esperanto on my resume. At my last 3 job interviews, it was a serious topic of discussion, and at each one, I got the sense that they were impressed by it. One job I've gotten was from a friend who speaks Esperanto.

A couple of years ago I entered into a local contest, and during one of the seminars the contest hosted, I mentioned my love for Esperanto. One of the other contestants came over and asked me more about Esperanto, and we became fast friends. One of the aforementioned job interviews came from him, so it is also attributable to Esperanto.

As for whether or not the interviewers were truly impressed by my knowledge of Esperanto or not, I can't say for certain. I can only say that I start on Monday.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm a strange bird. Usually that's what draws them to me. I may not be "cool," but I'm interesting. One of the things that makes me interesting, in my opinion, is knowing and speaking Esperanto.

Embrace the things that make you stand out from the crowd. Fly your "freak flag" high and proud. That way others can come stand under your banner for a while. Maybe when they leave, they'll be flying little green freak flags of their own;)

  • By kavaliro at 2007-02-10 19:03
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I am surprised you are surprised. :)

I am surprised you are surprised. :) Seriously, why should the experience bother you? Internalized Esperanto-phobia? It's nothing to be ashamed of, for Pete's sake - be proud that you have learned another language! I mention Esperanto as an interest on my resume.

Mentioning Esperanto on one's website, blog, etc. is a useful (and quite already established) way to raise awareness of Esperanto. I usually blog in Esperanto, sometimes with English (and/or Polish) translations. The more people who realize that they have Esperantist friends, the more likely some of them will think maybe there's something to this wacky Esperanto idea after all.

It depends a bit on the

It depends a bit on the context -- I'm happy to walk down the street wearing an Esperanto t-shirt ("Esperanto: ne tiel ridinda kiel vi pensas!" is probably my favorite, though I like "Kiun parton de 'Internacia Lingvo' vi ne komprenas?", too) -- even if I meet someone I know, I feel more in control of my 'outing'.

But it's a little odd, in general, that most everything one has ever done on the internet is always visible and people *will* notice it. Esperanto is no worse than anything else in this regard.

  • By Ted Alper at 2007-02-09 18:19
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Search engines

I've taught an on-line course for teachers and the first exercise was always "Introduce yourself to us by googling your name, finding a link, and telling us about that side of yourself that we otherwise might not know." A lot of the teachers were surprised to find that there were any links that mentioned them. I always emphasize to my students to be aware of about how they're presenting themselves on-line and to think of their on-line contributions as part of a portfolio.

There was a great article that got passed around the ELNA Publicity Committee that was talking about how to "build a web presence" that suggested constructing pages that had popular search terms embedded in them (ie, names of celebrities, musicians, songs, etc) even though those topics were unrelated to the theme of your site. I'm pleased to say that we rejected that model of publicity. :-) I am genuinely excited by our current project to find ways to link Esperanto to interesting ideas, like helping the elderly stave off dementia.

--
Steven BREWER

  • By limako at 2007-02-09 16:30
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