I wondered where Esperanto was. I should have wondered what Esperanto was.
I learned that Esperanto is a language designed to facilitate communication between people of different lands and cultures. It was first published in 1887 by Dr. L. L. Zamenhof (1859-1917) under the pseudonym "Dr. Esperanto," meaning "one who hopes," and this is the name that stuck as the name of the language itself.
Esperanto is considerably easier to learn than national languages, since its design is far simpler and more regular. Also, unlike national languages, Esperanto allows communication on an equal footing between people, with neither having the usual cultural advantage favouring a native speaker.
Esperanto is phonetic: every word is pronounced exactly as it is spelled. There are no "silent" letters or exceptions.
I found this clip from the movie Incubus.
The big advantage of Esperanto is that it is easy to use when you're on your travels. There's a network of people willing to help fello-speakers.
ReplyDeleteEsperanto is great for kids because they can learn it quickly, it helps their English vocab. and grammar, it gives them a wide view of the world's people and gives them a head start for other languages.
ReplyDeleteAny teacher or parent can teach and learn it at the same time using "Talking to the Whole Wide World" from Mondeto.