"Lando sen lingvo estas lando sen animo."

Translation: A country without a language is a country without a soul.

[rapn21]

This is an old Irish quote from an Irish rebel at the turn of the last century to encourage Irish people to speak Irish instead of English. Its almost always repeated during discussions of the Irish language. It basically says that we should speak Irish because its our culture and heritage and thats more important than the commercial and travel benefits of English.

I'm really surprised to see it hear.

[PatriciaJH]

I suspect the Esperanto version came from this Esperanto translation of a book on Scots Gaelic, where it is quoted as "an Irish proverb" with no other attribution or context: http://www.iol.ie/~carsfrn/Gaela%20Lingvo.htm

I bet the Duo developers put together this lesson by scraping the web for "Esperanto, proverb." It's interesting indeed to hear this one's history; thank you.

[deactivated user]

Mi samideas tutkore. Vivu la Franca Kebeka! Vivu la Kataluna! Vivu la Irlanda! Vivu malplejpartaj lingvoj!

[PolMicheal]

Is teanga í is áile an Ghaeilge.

[Mandiras]

<cries in Belgian>
<sobs in Austrian>
<argues in Cypriot>

[benulo]

Esperanto is a soul without a body

[vytah]

So, a ghost?

[hellomidnight]

Language learner: What's that noise?

Esperanto: ŬooooooooOOOOOOOooooo mi estas bona lingvo, lernu min ooooOOOOOOoooooo

[JakeH1]

BU!

[deactivated user]

Yes, but even more abstract.

[huguesdk]

What about countries with multiple languages? :)

[carbsrule]

They're full of life :)

[Vortarulo]

Split personality! ;)

[fractal_shadow]

I understood this to mean something about language preservation, as in saving and speaking indigenous/near-extinct languages.

[stephbutler19]

Native american tribal languages are disappearing.

[otsogutxi]

Deep.

[RandomCanadian12]

thankfully I don't think there are any countries that don't have any language

[Oceanotti]

Many use another country's language, but have lost theirs.

[baroquerie]

Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam