Esperanto (help·info) is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto (Dr. Hopeful), the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887. Zamenhof's goal was to create an easy-to-learn and politically neutral language that would serve as a universal second language to foster peace and international understanding.
Esperanto is the only constructed language with native speakers, that is, people who learned it from their parents as one of their native languages. Estimates range from 10,000 to two million additional active or fluent speakers. Usage is particularly high in eastern and northern Europe, eastern Asia, Brazil, and Iran. A World Congress of Esperanto was organized in France in 1905, and since then has been held in various countries every year apart from during the world wars. Although no country has adopted it officially, Esperanto was recommended by the French Academy of Sciences in 1921, was recognized byUNESCO in 1954, and is currently the language of instruction of a university in San Marino. There is evidence that learning Esperanto may provide a superior foundation for learning languages in general, and some primary schools teach it as preparation for learning other foreign languages.
sounds kinda wired but coole<3
The most obvious benefit of Esperanto is that it can be used during my travels. I've met all sorts of interesting individuals and visited the homes of ordinary people in a dozen countries.
ReplyDeleteI recommend it!
Bill Chapman is right. There's increasing interest in this unique phonomenon.
ReplyDeleteThe website http://www.lernu.net for example is currently receiving 120.000 hits per month.