TED Community » Neil Blonstein

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Spreading Esperanto as a Second Language. I would also find time to discuss early childhood educations internationally.

An idea worth spreading

Esperanto, a language which spreads peacefully

People don't know that I'm good at

Guitarist, gardener

Comments

• TEDCred score: +2.10 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A comment on Talk: Jay Walker on the world's English mania

  May 23 2012: http://www.tedxamsterdam.com/2012/the-humanness-of-esperanto/

• A comment on Talk: Patricia Ryan: Don't insist on English!

  May 21 2012: http://www.tedxamsterdam.com/2012/the-humanness-of-esperanto/
  Patricia Ryan's talk is linked to the above article. Now it is mutual.

• A comment on Talk: Patricia Ryan: Don't insist on English!

  May 5 2012: Universal Esperanto Association has organized 17 major conferences over the past 30 years (4 in the last 3 years) on language diversity. I commend the dialogue that Patricia Ryan has provoked. Neil Blonstein, UN representative of Universal Esperanto Association.

• A comment on Talk: Patricia Ryan: Don't insist on English!

  May 5 2012: Symposium on Language and the United Nations, May 1, 2012
  777 United Nations Plaza, New York
  PROGRAMME
  
  3:00 – 3:45. Language Teaching and Learning
  Bonnibeth Fonseca-Greber, University of Louisville, “Preparing the UN’s Next Generation: A Professional Development Plan for Translator Candidates”
  Miriam Eisenstein Ebsworth & Brianna Avenia-Tapper, New York University, Steinhardt: Patricia Duffy, UN Language and Communications Programme; Jill Kalotay, webmaster and consultant, “Learning English for Peace: An Online English Course about the UN”
  Sohair Soukkary, Baruch College, CUNY, “Language Teaching: Tapping the Right Side of the Brain”
  3:45 – 4:30. The NGO Experience
  Presentations by the Legion of Goodwill (Danilo Parmegiani) & Universal Esperanto Association (Steven Brewer)
  4:30 – 5:00. Closing Remarks
  Humphrey Tonkin, University of Hartford, “Thirty Years of Church Center Conferences on Language at the UN”
  Closing Remarks: Françoise Cestac
  5:00 - 6:00 Reception

• A comment on Talk: Patricia Ryan: Don't insist on English!

  May 5 2012: ABOUT 100 PEOPLE PARTICIPATED IN THE FOLLOWING PROGRAM:
  Symposium on Language and the United Nations, May 1, 2012
  777 United Nations Plaza, New York
  PROGRAMME
  9:30 – 10:00 Registration
  10:00 – 10:30 Opening greetings
  H. E. Ambassador Filippe Savadogo, Permanent Representative of La Francophonie to the United Nations
  Alassane Diatta, Chief, French Translation Service, Department for General Assembly and Conference Management, United Nations
  10:30 – 11:30. Language Policy at the United Nations
  Françoise Cestac, Former UN Assistant Secretary-General. Introduction
  Marie-Josée de Saint Robert, Chief, Languages Service, Division of Conference Management, UN Geneva, “Policy Regarding Language Use at the United Nations.” Paper read by Bonnibeth Fonseca-Greber.
  André Corrêa d’Almeida & G. Bahar Otcu, Columbia University, “The Portuguese Language in the United Nations”
  11:30 – 12:30. The Language Policy Background and Its Implications (1)
  Clément Mbom, Brooklyn College, “Langues et développement humain: Le français, acteur du développement dans les pays où il n’est pas la langue maternelle”
  Anna Luisa Daigneault, Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, “The Endangered Languages of South America: Grassroots Language Activism and New Media for the 21st Century”
  Lauren Zentz, University of Arizona, “Legacies of Modernity, Postcoloniality, and Globalization: Language Policy in Indonesia”
  12:45. Lunch. Film Screening: Languages Lost and Found: Speaking and Whistling the Mamma Tongue
  Iris Brooks and Jon H. Davis, Cultural Reporters / Film Directors, Northern Lights Studio
  1:45-3:00. The Language Policy Background and Its Implications (2)
  Timothy Reagan, Central Connecticut State University, “But What Is My Mother Tongue: Rethinking the Challenges of Mother Tongue Education”
  Myriam de Beaulieu, United Nations, “Loss of lexical and cultural diversity with global communication ”
  Panel discussion by the speakers in the morning and early afternoon sessions
  3:00 –

• A comment on Conversation: Are China's linguistic dialects endangered?

  Mar 10 2012: I have many doubts on Chinese "progress". Progress in China, is about what American NON-unionized workers tolerated in 1900. When feasible I'll pay double or triple for a shirt made by European, Canadian or Union labor. Their policies on the mandirinization of the country are no better. To the Chinese government's virtue, they occasionally support the logical, easy, neutral language, Esperanto, which I support as a second language for Americans, French, Germans, Brazilians etc.

• A comment on Talk: Wade Davis: Dreams from endangered cultures

  Mar 10 2012: National Geographic, sadly, has only touched on Esperanto once in its history. Isn't it time that this world-wide phenomena be fully evaluated at this revered magazine (paper edition and on-line)? http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/12/091215-ll-zamenhof-google-doodle-esperanto-150th-birthday/

• A comment on Talk: Wade Davis: Dreams from endangered cultures

  Mar 10 2012: While still vastly misunderstood, the existence of the easy, neutral language, Esperanto, is NOT MEANT TO REPLACE LOCAL LANGUAGES, but encourage the survival of the majority of languages of the world, which are now under threat, by the present political, economic, military, anglo-centric order of the world. One of our multi-lingual sites that emphasizes this is www.lingvaj-rajtoj.org In my personal view, hundreds of languages with their last few speakers will sady die this century. However, if we continue in our present projectile, thousands of languages will disappear, including ones with thousands of speakers today.

• A comment on Talk: Jonas Gahr Støre: In defense of dialogue

  Jan 13 2012: You may call Afghan instability an internal war but it is really an inter-ethnic conflict, as are most conflicts in Africa. What are Pashtun and Daris? I believe there is another ethnic group involved. Then Pakistan is a mixture of many ethno-linguistic groups. Just saying "groups" isn't dealing with many sources of these regional problems. And by the way get the Kurds--17 million--an independent country.

• A reply on Talk: Jay Walker on the world's English mania

  Jan 13 2012: English is business as usual. Deception and more deception. Regarding China, this repletion is outlawed in every western country. We are not parrots. This is producing dictatorships. Esperanto is the just compromise, used throughout the world.