Esperanto Esperanto - The International LanguageAuthor: David Poulson Page 1 ESPERANTO - THE INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE In this first article I want to take some time explaining exactly what Esperanto is. I have been asked about it many time in the past and I know that it is not easy to leave people with the right impression, so please bear with me if I treat this matter at some length. First of all, it's important to realise that Esperanto is a language. It's not a project, it's not a theoretical construct, it's not a model, it really is a living language which has evolved since its first appearance in 1887 and is now as up-to-date and as expressive as any national language. (In fact, it is more so than some and I will tell you more about that in a later feature). Hundreds of books are available which are written in Esperanto, many journals are published in Esperanto, and many conferences and other international events take place every year at which Esperanto is the main or only language spoken. I need to insist on this point because a surprising number of people find it difficult to accept. So difficult, in fact, that they refuse to believe it and say such things as: "Esperanto - it never caught on. Nobody speaks it. You can't really express yourself in it. It has no original literature." And so on. It's quite remarkable, really. Although a quick look into any reputable encyclopedia would reveal just the opposite, some people just refuse to accept the undisputed fact that Esperanto is a language and is used in every way that any other language is used. And so they make emphatic, prejudiced statements which are just, plain wrong. The next point I want to make is that Esperanto is a planned language. It was planned to meet a need, it was planned to have some characteristics and not others, and it was planned to be of benefit to mankind. In later articles I will tell you more about how and why it was planned and by whom. My last point is that Esperanto is an international language. That's how it was described from the beginning and that's how it is still know today. But what is an international language? Isn't English one? Didn't Latin and French used to be international languages? Well, in one sense yes and in another sense no. I prefer to think of English, Latin and French as world languages and not international. What's the difference? Well, that's a big topic but let me just for now make this one distinction. A language that is spoken to some degree in many countries can be described as a World Language. But a language which has no national or political affiliation and which has been designed to be easy to learn and easy to pronounce properly, no matter where in the world you were born - well, in my book, that's an International Language. |