this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2022
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Given that international auxiliary languages allow for more efficient cooperation; I think more people should consider using an easily learnable IAL, like Esperanto.

IALs would reduce the English dominance that gate-keeps software development to English persons; and hence allow more potential software developers to better develop software. The English language is mostly dominant in software development because of linguistic imperialism.

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[–] Faresh@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

For software development I would have thought of Lojban (the logical language). It's supposed to be syntactically unambiguous, so there are even parsers for that language.

Esperanto seems to me kinda... meh. Like, if we are going to do something as ambitious as establishing an IAL, why not shoot for the stars? Why not choose something that by some standard most of us can agree on, is the best of all for the job (not saying Lojban would be one, since it doesn't even aim to be an IAL)? Let's say ease of learning was one of the most important criteria: Then toki pona or some other derivative could be something we ought to look at. Or maybe even create and entirely new language. The one thing I see that Esperanto excels in is its popularity, which is useful to avoid the "Why would I learn that language if no one else speaks it?" situation, but I believe we should go beyond that if we have the choice of establishing an IAL.

[–] Amicchan@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Esperanto seems to me kinda… meh. Like, if we are going to do something as ambitious as establishing an IAL, why not shoot for the stars?

Trying to make a perfect IAL has failed miserably. Esperanto, while not perfect, has managed to do something most IALs haven't: get a large mass of speakers; so I support it despite it's flaws.

Why not choose something that by some standard most of us can agree on, is the best of all for the job (not saying Lojban would be one, since it doesn’t even aim to be an IAL)?

because Esperanto is a standard most speakers can agree on, even if it's not perfect. Other IALs failed to develop to the material conditions of the time.