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Esperanto. Born as the universal language easy for everyone to learn, it's fair to say
that this is a language everyone has heard of at some point. Could it work? This was
the first social language experiment of its kind- could we have a language used around
the world? Find out in an exclusive animated Esperanto.co.nr special!
For the rest of this programme, I leave you with Mrs McBerryfield, my language specialist.
goal was giving an international communication language, that is, as a universal (world)
second language, not to replace national languages. This goal was widely shared with Esperanto
speakers in the early years of the Esperanto movement. After that, Esperanto speakers began
to see the language and the culture that was shared is owned by them, even if Esperanto
is never chosen by the United Nations or other international organization. But how did it
all start? Esperanto was created in the late 1870's by Dr Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof, an ophthalmologist
of mixed cultural heritage from Bialystok, then part of the Russian Empire. He created
the language to foster harmony between people from different cultures. After depending ten
years developing the language so it was easy to learn for everyone, in which Zamenhof spent
translating literature into Esperanto as well as writing original prose and verse, the first
book of Esperanto grammar was published in Warsaw in July 1887. Over the next few decades,
the growth of Esperanto grew beyond expectations, Esperanto speakers kept in contact with each
other via letters, but in 1905 the first world congress of Esperanto speakers was held in
Boulogne-Sur-Mer, France. Since then world congresses have been held in different countries
every year, except during the two World Wars. Since the Second World War, they have been
attended by an average of over 2,000 and up to 6,000 people.
After the Great War, there was a proposal for the League of Nations to accept Esperanto
as their working language, following a report by Nitobe Inazō, an official delegate of
League of Nations during the 13th World Congress of Esperanto in Prague. Ten delegates accepted
the proposal with only one voice against, the French delegate, Gabriel Hanotaux. Hanotaux
did not like how the French language was losing its position as the international language
and saw Esperanto as a threat, effectively wielding his veto power to block the decision.
However, two years later, the League recommended that its member states include Esperanto in
their educational curricula. For this reason, many people see the 1920s as the heyday of
the Esperanto movement. As a potential vehicle for international understanding,
Esperanto attracted the suspicion of many totalitarian states. The situation was especially
pronounced in Nazi Germany, Francoist Spain and the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin.
In Germany, there was an additional persecution because Zamenhof was Jewish. Esperantists
were killed during the Holocaust, with Zamenhof's family in particular singled out for ***.
In Imperial Japan, the left-wing of the Japanese Esperanto movement was persecuted, but its
leaders were careful enough not to give the impression to the government that the Esperantists
were revolutionaries, which proved a successful strategy. In the early years of the Soviet
Union, Esperanto was given a measure of government support, and the Soviet Esperanto Association
was Esperanto was never though, been a secondary national language for any country. The US
Army has published military phrase books in Esperanto, to be used in war games by mock
enemy forces. In the summer of 1924, the American Radio Relay League adopted Esperanto as its
official international auxiliary language, and hoped that the language would be used
by radio amateurs in international communications, but its actual use for radio communications
was negligible. All documents issued by the World Service Authority are written in Esperanto
as well as other, more mainstream languages. Stalin denounced Esperanto as "the language
of spies" and had Esperantists exiled or executed. The use of Esperanto was effectively banned
until 1956. Most Esperanto speakers learn the language
themselves, with help from published Esperanto textbooks. But how did I learn Esperanto?
Well, I used learning websites which are becoming more and more popular, though sales of traditional
textbooks remain high. Esperanto teaching is occasionally available at schools, including
four primary schools in a pilot project under the supervision of the University of Manchester,
and by one count at 69 universities. However, these are often in the form of clubs or other
informal arrangements. However, Zamenhof's hopes for a language easy to learn were not
in vain, as researchers have estimated that Esperanto and be learned in one quarter to
one twelfth of the time needed to learn other languages. The exact results were, I think,
shocking: 2000 hours studying German = 1500 hours studying English = 1000 hours studying
Italian (or any other Romance language) = 150 hours studying Esperanto.
Now, an estimate of Esperanto speakers was made Sidney S.Culbert, a long-time Esperantist,
and he concluded that one to two million people speak Esperanto at a good enough level to
work and talk and communicate in Esperanto purely. The culture of Esperanto is one that
we have touched earlier, but as is often the case with a constructed language, how do you
create a culture? Well, there certainly is one for Esperanto- over 25,000 books have
been published in Esperanto, both original books and translated one. There is even music
sung in Esperanto, though mostly folk songs. Every year, 1,500-3,000 esperanto speakers
gather for the World congress of Esperanto. But how exactly did the culture come about?
The late Scottish Esperanto author William Auld wrote extensively on the subject, arguing
that Esperanto is "the expression of a common human culture, unencumbered by national frontiers.
Thus it is considered a culture on its own," in his response to criticism at the time regarding
Esperanto's culture. Zamenhof's intention was to create an easy-to-learn language to
foster international understanding. It was to serve as an international auxiliary language,
that is, as a universal second language, not to replace ethnic languages. This goal was
widely shared among Esperanto speakers in the early decades of the movement. Later,
Esperanto speakers began to see the language and the culture that had grown up around it
as ends in themselves, even if Esperanto is never adopted by the United Nations or other
international organizations. The world of politics too, is no stranger
to Esperantists: Esperanto has been placed in many proposed political situations. The
most popular of these is the Europe -- Democracy -- Esperanto, which aims to establish Esperanto
as the official language of the European Union. The Grin Report, published in 2005, found
that the use of English as the lingua franca within the European Union costs billions annually
and significantly benefits English-speaking countries financially. The report found that
it would have many advantages, particularly economically speaking, as well as ideologically.
So then, Esperanto. What is it? I am in the privileged position thanks to the Prime Minister,
to be able on this USA tour, to be able to write and, indeed, say this final paragraph.
It doesn't matter what Esperanto is, and whether the EU should adopt it. The mere fact that
the common word has united millions around the world, is enough to make Zamenhof happy.
But the fact that it has been able to do much more, such as the EU report, though volunteers,
and those united by Esperanto, is cherry on the top. Don't forget either, the thousands
of volunteer projects set up to unite others, such as Esperanto.co.nr and Esperanto-USA!
Volunteer is the key word here. It shows that if we are united we can to anything- and learn
and meet a bunch of new people along the way! So now, thanks for watching and visit Esperanto.co.nr
to learn Esperanto- this amazing language!