In the Land of Invented Languages: Esperanto Rock Stars, Klingon Poets, Loglan Lovers, and The Mad Dreamers Who Tried to Build A Perfect Language by Arika OkrentMy review
rating: 4 of 5 stars
I don't know why I'm drawn to the language books like I am - I even have a goodreads "bookshelf" for them. But, somehow, I am, and this was a really good example of one.
Okrent has written a fascinating, accessible yet deep, and even at times funny book about the languages that have been "invented", and the character-ful people who have invented them. For the most part idealists, sometimes cranks, it makes for some great storytelling. I guess that's what makes this so readable - the focus is less on the grammars of the languages as on the people, and why their languages didn't catch on.
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1 comment:
Concerning Arika Okrent's new book.
It's unfortunate that only a few people know that Esperanto has become a living language.
After a short period of 121 years Esperanto is now in the top 100 languages, out of 6,800 worldwide, according to the CIA factbook. It is the 17th most used language in Wikipedia, and in use by Skype, Firefox and Facebook. Native Esperanto speakers,(people who have used the language from birth), include George Soros, World Chess Champion Susan Polger, Ulrich Brandenberg the new German Ambassador to NATO and Nobel Laureate Daniel Bovet.
Further arguments can be seen at http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_YHALnLV9XU Professor Piron was a translator with the United Nations in Geneva.
A glimpse of Esperanto can be seen at http://www.lernu.net
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