What is the difference between *per* and *pere de*?

Question

This question came up on another site and I thought it was a good one.

What is the difference between per and pere de? Both can be translated as "by means of". Can someone list some examples of these in use that would illustrate the difference?

Answer 1

Basically per refers to a direct means (uze de), while pere de refers to an indirect means (parte dank' al, pro haveblo de). The reason, I think, is that pere does not come directly from per but is the adverbial form of pera (= ne efikanta per si mem).

• Mi lernis ĝin per reta kurso. I learnt it with an online course.

• Mi lernis ĝin pere de reta kurso. I learnt it with the help of [because I had access to] an online course.

A good example would be vojaĝi pere de Esperanto ("travel by means of/with the help of Esperanto"), which avoids implying that learning Esperanto gives you teleportation powers, etc.

Answer 2

The answer I posted in the other site was:

Oni parolas per la buŝo kaj pere de interpretisto.