Re: I'm new, and I have questions, damnit.

[Robin Turner <robin@bilkent.edu.tr>]

John Cowan wrote:

> From: John Cowan <cowan@locke.ccil.org>
>
> Avital Oliver/biOmass wrote:
>
> > a) What the estimate on the number of Lojban speakers worldwide?
>
> Hard to say, and it depends on the definition of "speaker".  There are
> probably no truly fluent speakers.  Some face-to-face and IRC
> conversations have been held in Lojban, though.

Depends on the definition of "fluent" as well.  By some definitions, anyone
who can have a face-to-face conversation without significant
misunderstandings or communication breakdowns is fluent; by others they
would need the to be able to use Lojban with the same facility as their
native tongue.  By the first definition, there are probably quite a few
fluent speakers (not including me though!); by the second we'll probably
have to wait for the arrival of some jbocifnu!

If by "speakers" you include anyone who is learning the language, my guess
would be a couple of hundred, but we really can't tell how many people on
the lojban list and the snail-mail list are actually using Lojban, rather
than taking an academic interest in it.  If we're playing the numbers game,
this is obviously pathetically small, even compared to other constructed
languages like Esperanto.  But numbers are not terribly relevant,
considering that Lojban is still really a project in development.  OK, it's
a complete language, and it's been baselined, but I think most people
involved are still more interesting in seeing how the language can be used
and ironing out any bugs, rather than campaigning for a wide user-base.
That will come later.

co'o mi'e robin.