Esperanto

Posted in Historical articles, Language on Wednesday, 15 June 2011

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This edited article about Esperanto originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 969 published on 4 October 1980.

Babel, picture, image, illustration

The Tower of Babel which led to the end of a universal language

The United Nations Organisation, always in the news because of its worldwide activities, has recently been under fire because of the high cost of its translating services – £52 million a year. The wide range of languages spoken in the world, and the need to enable people of different nationalities to understand each other, makes translations necessary.

But can they be avoided? If the dream of a boy over a hundred years ago comes fully to fruition, everybody would be able to talk together, no matter what his or her nationality. Just such a situation was imagined in the Polish town of Bialystock, where Ludovic Zamenhof stood in the bustling market-place. Around him, things were far from peaceful. Wranglings and fights, often leading to bloodshed, seemed to be an accepted part of everyday life.

He lived in a town of people of several different ethnic origins and languages. In addition to Poles, there were Germans and Russians, and many of them were Jewish.

Ludovic realised that the main reason for the discord was lack of real communication between the races. Ludovic’s dream was of a common language that would promote peace throughout the world.

The idea grew in his mind for many years until, in 1887, he introduced his new language, called Esperanto, to the world. It was based on Latin and Greek roots, like many other languages, and had many similarities with existing ones.

It was never intended to replace existing languages, but to be used as a second language. It was designed to be simple enough to be learned by everybody.

All unnecessary grammatical trimmings were discarded, leaving nothing but a clear-cut tool of communication with only 16 basic rules of grammar.

There are no difficulties of spelling in Esperanto, for it is phonetic: every word is spelt just as it sounds.

Said to be five times easier to learn than French, Esperanto’s simplicity is the main argument for its adoption as a universal language.

Being freshly created and not based on an existing tongue, it is fair to all. People from all over the world could discuss any subject on equal terms.

One of the most remarkable events in the international calendar took place in Stockholm during August this year. People from all over the world, normally speaking many different national languages, conversed together easily, and with great enthusiasm, about their varied interests.

The capital of Sweden was witnessing the annual congress of the Universal Esperanto Association.

During Easter, British Esperantists held their own national congress in Edinburgh and, in March, British MPs were provided with a demonstration of Esperanto in the House of Commons. Over 100 of them are now members of the Esperanto Parliamentary Group, the aim of which is to promote the use of Esperanto.

There are already regular short-wave broadcasts in Esperanto from many countries, including Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Austria, Yugoslavia, China and, of course – Poland.

The problem is to spread knowledge of Esperanto itself; for, although in some countries it is possible to take an examination in Esperanto, it is taught in relatively few schools.

Some people believe in Esperanto, and what it has to offer, but put off learning it until it is in more widespread use. This puts the cart before the horse. The more people use the language, the more it will succeed.

The Universal Esperanto Association, with headquarters in Rotterdam, issues a yearbook containing the addresses of Esperantists throughout the world who are prepared to help enquirers on all kinds of topics. For example, they will answer questions on saunas in Finland, coffee-growing in Brazil, or railways in Russia. This unique little book can link you with experts all over the world.

One comment on “Esperanto”

  1. 1. Brian Barker says:

    An excellent article. Esperanto is indeed alive and well. In fact many people do not realise how popular, as a living language, Esperanto is.

    The new study course lernu.net is now receiving 123,000 hits per month.

    That can’t be bad