Nicole – 3rd gen native Esperanto speaker
#000002
Some people don’t believe that native Esperanto speakers exist. Would you then believe that I’ve found a third generation native Esperanto speaker?! Nicole Klünder’s great-grandfather learned Esperanto, taught it natively to his kids, who taught it natively to his kids, who taught it natively to Nicole... awesome! It seems that it’s now becoming a tradition in this blog to interview another native Esperanto speaker every year. Last year, I interviewed an Esperanto DJ: DJ Leo Sakaguchi. The year before was second generation native speaker Rolf Fantom. Anyway, without further ado, let’s see what Nicole has to say! (She answered my questions in Esperanto, so you will find my translation in italics under his answers.)
#000003
I was born that way. My parents taught me it growing up, and my father was also a native speaker. This was certainly also partly since my parents met through Esperanto, for example my mother was Polish.
#000006
How did your great-grandfather first learn Esperanto and why? When was that?
#000007
Laŭ mia scio, li lernis la lingvon en 1908 por pli bone scii kaj klarigi kial ĝi malbonas. Evidentiĝis, ke ĝi fakte plaĉegis al li.
#000008
As far as I know, he learned the language in 1908 to better know and explain why it’s bad. Later, he realized that he actually really liked it.
#000009
Nu, kompreneble mankas al mi komparo al ne-denaske-esperanta vivo. Tamen ĝi absolute ne ĝenis, kaj ofte estis agrabla kiel „sekreta“ lingvo. Malfacilas priskribi tion, sed ĝi estis parto de la familio kaj ielmaniere sentis „agrable“.
#000011
Well, I can’t compare that to what my life would’ve been like as a non-native Esperanto speaker, of course. However, it wasn’t annoying at all, and often it was nice to have a “secret” language. It’s difficult to describe, but it was part of the family and somehow always felt “nice.”
#000012
Do you think you’ll continue the tradition and raise your kids in Esperanto? Why or why not?
#000019
Por mi tio ne estas tradicio. Mi ne fiere festas la Klünder-klanon se mi parolas Esperanton. 😉 Tamen estas tre verŝajne, ke mi faros tion – simple ĉar estas „normala“ por mi kaj malfacilos eviti ke miaj infanoj lernas Esperanton.
#000020
For me, that’s not a tradition. I don’t proudly celebrate the Klünder clan if I speak Esperanto. 😉 However, it’s very likely that I’ll do that – just because it’s “normal” for me and it will be difficult to keep my kids from learning Esperanto.
#000021
Ĝisdatigo: La patro de Nicole, Helmut Klünder, ĵus skribis por informi min, ke fakte estis la avo de Nicole, kaj ne ŝia praavo, kiu lernis Esperanton por argumenti pli efektive kontraŭ ĝi. Espereble baldaŭ, ni lernos pli pri kiel tio evoluis...
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Update: Nicole’s father, Helmut Klünder, just wrote to inform me that it was Nicole’s grandfather, not great-grandfather who learned Esperanto to argue more effectively against it. Hopefully soon, we will learn more how this unfolded...
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About the Author: Chuck Smith
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I’d like to know if he acquired another language at home or if he did it from the societal environnement and what language was that.
#000029
Very nice interview, Iwant to know is Esperanto really that worth it, I mean did you think it have all the words you need to express your self freely at your home with your family?!
#000030
I’d like to hear a podcast where you interview him. I’m curious about how a native speaker sounds compared to someone who just learned it well.
#000033
Interesa rakonto, sed ĉu Nils estas vere ‘denaska’ parolanto de Esperanto? Alivorte, ĉu ĝi estas lia unua lingvo, aŭ ĉu liaj gepatroj instruis ĝin al li apude de la nacia lingvo? Krome, ĉu la avo de Nils ankaŭ parolis al li en Esperanto?
An interesting story, but is Nils really a ‘native’ Esperanto speaker? In other words, was it his first language, or did his parents teach it to him alongside the national language? Also, did Nils’ grandfather talk to him in Esperanto, too?
#000035
Mi ne bone komprenas vian demandon. Ĝi estis mia unua lingvo, samtempe kun la Germana. Jes – tio eblas. Mia avo tro frue mortis por havi eblecon paroli kun mi en iu-ajn lingvo.
#000036
I don’t really understand your question. It is my first language, at the same time with German. Jes – that’s possible. Mi grandfather died too early to talk to me in any language.
#000037
Mi pensis ke bebo lernas plejparte unu lingvon, kaj eble alian lingvon kiel ‘dua’, sed ŝajne oni povas lerni du samtempe! Mi ne sciis tion. Dankon.
I thought that a baby learned mainly one language, and maybe another language as a ‘second’, but it seems that one can learn two simultaneously! I didn’t know that. Thanks.
#000039
Sinjoro Cooper vi eraras laŭ mi. Mi pensas ke vi ne en Centra-Eŭropo vivas, ĉar ĉi tie vi vivus, konus ke la beboj kune multajn lingvojn samtempe ellerneblas. Kun sia avo li parolas germane (ekzemple), kun sio patrino hungare, kun la najbaro rumane – kiel en Hungara-Transilvanio (Erdély) aŭ en Hungarujo. Kaj se sia patro volas, kun sia patro li parolus esperante. Tiuj estas jam kvar lingoj. Kaj ankaŭ ĝi vivas tie ĉi la serba, la rusena, la slovaka, la krovata, la greka kaj la jida lingvo kune sur unu tero, en unu lando. La historio certe, sendube estas kredebla.
#000042
I spoke only Esperanto to my own son, Skajler, until he was six years old. His mom spoke only English to him. It was as if he thought I had only an incredibly thick accent. In public the conversation between himself and me was bi-lingual. I’d speak Esperanto to him, he’d answer in English (completely in accord with the topic at hand).
Sadly, I gave it up when he got into first grade, where it was apparent he had very great difficulty reading and the private school teachers blamed it on me. Under the weight of pressure from every direction I gave it up...to absolutely ZERO effect. turns out his issue was something very like dyslexia (not exactly, but near enough) from which he suffers yet to this day...and has since lost his bilingual facility. I miss it very greatly as it was terrific fun speaking Esperanto (a much favored hobby without political overtones) to my only child. I am greatly disappointed at the lost opportunity now.
#000043
When I went thru photos at the Museum in Vienna, I did notice that it seemed to be a kind of trope way back to take photos of groups often holding up the newspaper. I didn’t see so many postcards as much as just regular photos. It seemed to be a “thing” that people did – probably just a visual cue to include in the photo that evoked Esperanto. Similar to holding the flag.
#000046
Flandra ĵurnalisto legis la intervjuon kaj el tio rezultis intervjuo en la flandra radio.
Antaŭ du monatoj estis intervjuo en la flandra televido kun Karlijn plej parte en Esperanto kun subtitoloj en la nederlanda.
#000047
When our son David was, my wife and I agreed to a consistent policy: I would speak only Esperanto to him, and she only English. It worked splendidly, and David grew up totally bilingual, easily able to distinguish “Daddy’s language” from “Mummy’s language”. In fact, his Esperanto was better than his English till he went to school (because Esperanto gave him much more freedom to make up his own words).
Despite years of mental disturbance (schizophrenia) in his teens and despite having no other contact with Esperanto, David still to this day instantly speaks Esperanto when I ring him.
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