Klingon is far more popular than many other long-standing utility-languages besides Esperanto, most of which have struggled for ages. But not compared to Esperanto. I don't think Okrent says how many Esperantists there are, though she does point out that use is wide-spread and that it does have native speakers, that is, a sustained body of people who were raised in Esperanto-speaking households. Wikipedia says "Estimates of Esperanto speakers range from 10,000 to two million active or fluent speakers."
Okrent does discuss the number of Klingon speakers - a language, she points out, that is deliberately difficult to learn; that indeed, the challenge of learning it is what appeals to many of its users. "The Klingon Dictionary has sold more than 300,000 copies. But a dictionnary buyer does not a speaker make. There are probably more than 2,000 people who have leanred to use Klingon in some way: a word or two, [or] composed in Klingon without regard to the grammar. They haven't done the work. They count only as dabblers. At least a few hundred, however, have done the work and are pretty good at written Klingon. But what about speakers in the sense of people who can carry on a spontaneous live conversation in Klingon? I would say, oh, twenty or so. Maybe thirty." (p. 272-3, abridged)
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Date: 2011-04-10 03:32 pm (UTC)Okrent does discuss the number of Klingon speakers - a language, she points out, that is deliberately difficult to learn; that indeed, the challenge of learning it is what appeals to many of its users. "The Klingon Dictionary has sold more than 300,000 copies. But a dictionnary buyer does not a speaker make. There are probably more than 2,000 people who have leanred to use Klingon in some way: a word or two, [or] composed in Klingon without regard to the grammar. They haven't done the work. They count only as dabblers. At least a few hundred, however, have done the work and are pretty good at written Klingon. But what about speakers in the sense of people who can carry on a spontaneous live conversation in Klingon? I would say, oh, twenty or so. Maybe thirty." (p. 272-3, abridged)