Who's actually learning conlangs?

[Sasquatch]

Finishing a language is impossible, new words will be needed for new things, language changes over time.

"Finish" is a figure of speech. At some point you have to finish the grammar and phonology. That is "finished".

[Micamo]

Conlangs are fractals. No matter how much you've "done", there's always a smaller level you can zoom in on and flesh out.

[Ahzoh]

Well, I know a fellow named "razlem" on Unilang made a series of videos on teaching his conlang Angos, you should check em out for inspiration.

People don't want to learn a language because they don't have a community to speak it, but how can one build a community if everyone has the same mentality?
I know one non-commercial conlang that was minorly successful in building a community. It is the Talossan language of the micronation of Talossa. It has only 12 fluent speakers, but still that's quite an accomplishment. It's a Romance language, fictionally descended by ancient Berbers migrating there. It is pretty detailed and has at least 100,000 words.

I will teach my family my conlang, so there is that.

[Micamo]

Getting upset and disappointed that you can't build a speaker community for your conlang is like getting upset and disappointed that you can't find a few hundred nubile 18-year old supermodels willing to become your sex slaves.

[tezcatlip0ca]

I’m actively trying to learn Pazmat, for its sheer morphophonological awesomeness (and because I have a weird conlanger crush on Chagen), and Ithkuil, just to prove to myself that I can.

[MrKrov]

What I try to do with mine is make elaborate scripts for them.
Anything else, like learning, not so much.

[kanejam]

Getting upset and disappointed that you can't build a speaker community for your conlang is like getting upset and disappointed that you can't find a few hundred nubile 18-year old supermodels willing to become your sex slaves.

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Huh? Oh, sorry, must have been daydreaming.

If you think about who is interested in (non-commercial) conlangs, it is mostly other conlangers who are too busy creating their own languages to take note of other peoples. The few people who might be interested in learning someone else's conlang might be attracted to those with existing speaker bases such as Esperanto or toki pona.

Having said that, I believe their was a thread on the ZBB where a handful of people got together and decided to learn a democratically elected conlang (they chose Rangyayo; I don't know how far through the learning process they got). This could be a cool idea for the CBB.

[masako]

Getting upset and disappointed that you can't build a speaker community for your conlang is like getting upset and disappointed that you can't find a few hundred nubile 18-year old supermodels willing to become your sex slaves.

What a wonderfully inappropriate and erroneous analogy.

I've not seen anyone 'get upset'...maybe I haven't been paying attention. When I first posted about Qatama over ten years ago I hoped for people to bother to learn it...a few did, none to any wonderful level. As for Kala, I've had conversations with people here, the ZBB and other sites in Kala. Funny thing about that, I never expected or hoped for anyone to bother learning Kala.

If the stated goal is to acquire speakers/learners, then Micamo is right, disappointment might be soon to follow, and despite the wonky analogy blunder makes a valid point that building a community will likely fail.

I'll say this, though, David Peterson has a pretty solid community for his, but he didn't "build" it so much as lay out the language for writers to use and let the community come to him...much in the same way Zomp did.

[Thrice Xandvii]

What a wonderfully inappropriate and erroneous analogy.

While the analogy may be somewhat puerile, that does not make it, in and of itself, wrong.

I think you are about as likely to make an actual speech community for your conlang as you are to acquire a sexy harem. Your somewhat limited examples do not, by my definition, a community make. As has been stated, pretty much the only way to get anyone to care about your language is to attach it to a project that gains some level of geek-dom recognition. In general, that means a significant movie, or television series or a long-running graphic novel or some other property that a boatload of people start to care about.

Yes, there will be isolated exceptionas. And no, I haven't seen anyone being mad about it in here or anywhere else, either. For me, her point is no less valid.

[Canis]

Getting upset and disappointed that you can't build a speaker community for your conlang is like getting upset and disappointed that you can't find a few hundred nubile 18-year old supermodels willing to become your sex slaves.

You won't believe how many people get upset because of it. Funny, they wouldn't be happy even when they got it. And I suppose the same goes for our built speaker community of our conlang. Such a community would strip you out of your power over the language and derail it.

Some people expressed interest in learning the basics of Ahtialan, but nobody actually did this. The language is ridiculously easy to learn in all aspects except for pronunciation and has some nice original features, but still. What would the point of learning a conlang be? Can any of you say that without the dictionaries can you speak your language? I doubt it - you can't remember words without actively using them!

We do it for fun.
For lustful desire for pride, for personal concept, for that false feeling of belonging to an imaginary elite that can do something that others cannot. We drain disgusting satisfaction from that autism. It is irresistable, believe me, I tried. It is too strong.

[Ahzoh]

Getting upset and disappointed that you can't build a speaker community for your conlang is like getting upset and disappointed that you can't find a few hundred nubile 18-year old supermodels willing to become your sex slaves.

You won't believe how many people get upset because of it. Funny, they wouldn't be happy even when they got it. And I suppose the same goes for our built speaker community of our conlang. Such a community would strip you out of your power over the language and derail it.

Some people expressed interest in learning the basics of Ahtialan, but nobody actually did this. The language is ridiculously easy to learn in all aspects except for pronunciation and has some nice original features, but still. What would the point of learning a conlang be? Can any of you say that without the dictionaries can you speak your language? I doubt it - you can't remember words without actively using them!

We do it for fun.
For lustful desire for pride, for personal concept, for that false feeling of belonging to an imaginary elite that can do something that others cannot. We drain disgusting satisfaction from that autism. It is irresistable, believe me, I tried. It is too strong.

I can speak my conlang without dictionary... but simple sentences.

[Canis]

Getting upset and disappointed that you can't build a speaker community for your conlang is like getting upset and disappointed that you can't find a few hundred nubile 18-year old supermodels willing to become your sex slaves.

You won't believe how many people get upset because of it. Funny, they wouldn't be happy even when they got it. And I suppose the same goes for our built speaker community of our conlang. Such a community would strip you out of your power over the language and derail it.

Some people expressed interest in learning the basics of Ahtialan, but nobody actually did this. The language is ridiculously easy to learn in all aspects except for pronunciation and has some nice original features, but still. What would the point of learning a conlang be? Can any of you say that without the dictionaries can you speak your language? I doubt it - you can't remember words without actively using them!

We do it for fun.
For lustful desire for pride, for personal concept, for that false feeling of belonging to an imaginary elite that can do something that others cannot. We drain disgusting satisfaction from that autism. It is irresistable, believe me, I tried. It is too strong.

I can speak my conlang without dictionary... but simple sentences.

So you can't speak your conlang without dictionary.

[DesEsseintes]

It's actually a lot easier to find sex slaves than getting people to learn your conlang.

[Ahzoh]

Getting upset and disappointed that you can't build a speaker community for your conlang is like getting upset and disappointed that you can't find a few hundred nubile 18-year old supermodels willing to become your sex slaves.

You won't believe how many people get upset because of it. Funny, they wouldn't be happy even when they got it. And I suppose the same goes for our built speaker community of our conlang. Such a community would strip you out of your power over the language and derail it.

Some people expressed interest in learning the basics of Ahtialan, but nobody actually did this. The language is ridiculously easy to learn in all aspects except for pronunciation and has some nice original features, but still. What would the point of learning a conlang be? Can any of you say that without the dictionaries can you speak your language? I doubt it - you can't remember words without actively using them!

We do it for fun.
For lustful desire for pride, for personal concept, for that false feeling of belonging to an imaginary elite that can do something that others cannot. We drain disgusting satisfaction from that autism. It is irresistable, believe me, I tried. It is too strong.

I can speak my conlang without dictionary... but simple sentences.

So you can't speak your conlang without dictionary.

That IS speaking...

[gestaltist]

It's actually a lot easier to find sex slaves than getting people to learn your conlang.

Depends how much you are willing to pay for either. ;)

[Canis]

It's actually a lot easier to find sex slaves than getting people to learn your conlang.

Depends how much you are willing to pay for either. ;)

We are not talking about employment, my friend, especially a consensual one. That would kill the very idea.

That IS speaking...

Sensu stricto yes, but to "speak a language" implies fluency. You don't go to people and say "I speak Spanish" when all you can talk about in Castilian is the last football match. Unless you're a very stereotypical American.

[gestaltist]

It's actually a lot easier to find sex slaves than getting people to learn your conlang.

Depends how much you are willing to pay for either. ;)

We are not talking about employment, my friend, especially a consensual one. That would kill the very idea.

Well, it is not the slaves you pay, but someone has to supply them, right?

[DesEsseintes]

It's actually a lot easier to find sex slaves than getting people to learn your conlang.

Depends how much you are willing to pay for either. ;)

Mine are slaves to my awesome charm and sex appeal.

[Lao Kou]

Mine are slaves to my awesome charm and sex appeal.

[Micamo]

This is the best thread derailment, you guys