Esperanto flag. From Wikipedia.
Why Esperanto?
Esperanto was invented by Zamenhof who lived in a town where people spoke different languages. He wanted to make communication easier, to improve business and communication and co-operation.
I started learning Esperanto years ago from a correspondence course. Such a great idea - one language which could be used to speak to people from many cultures. Best of all, quick to learn. But eventually I dropped it.
In Poland, when I visited a Jewish cemetery in Warsaw, I saw the grave of Zamenhof, and my interest in Esperanto was revived.
I took up Esperanto again in Singapore, which has four languages, English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil, when I found I could learn Esperanto on Duolingo.
Advantages of Duolingo
When I started learning languages on Duolingo, I tried a dozen different languages. I soon decided that for me, as an English speaker and French speaker, Spanish and Italian were easy to understand. So I started Spanish.
When reading, German was easiest to say. German does not have the rolled r of Spanish. German intonation is easier. So I started German.
Italian Pronunciation
I struggled with the intonation of Italian. I used to rhyme trattoria with Victoria, until my husband pointed out that the accent is the second to last syllable. i struggled with this until I changed my reference word from English sounding Victoria to Italian sounding Maria.)
Asian Languages and Chinese
These were all a problem, for me to learn, and when trying to teach English as a foreign language. Now was the time to try Chinese on Duolingo. Esperanto on Duolingo was a revelation. Esperanto did not invariably use a and the. Neither did Chinese! I realised that the Chinese (Mandarin) speaking learners were not confusing 'a' and 'the'. The Chinese did not leave out 'a' and 'the' because the speaker was confused which one to use. The speaker did not have 'a' and 'the' at all in their language. I could see that Esperanto would be easier for them to learn. As well as easier for me to learn.
Russian and German seemed to have six ways of saying a and the, like French which has le for masculine, and la for feminine, but plurals for the (like converting the to they or those, as in 'les') as in Spanish. Oh - how much easier to learn Esperanto!
Advantages of Esperanto
1 Esperanto is the most widely learned artificial language.
2 It is logical, made up from root words, mainly from the Latin and French and Spanish and Italian.
3 This makes it both predictable and memorable.
Obviously easy for those speaking English or a Europea first language.
4 You do not have to remember a and the. La is the and you don't need an. But you can't translate back into English word for word. You have to remember to add the an in English if the la, meaning, the is missing before a noun.
5 Diacritics - those little symbols. They tell you pronunciation and reduce the numbers of letters you need. makes writing faster - jus add a little dot to change s to sh, - but typing is slower if you don't have the diacritics on you r keyboard and have to find out how to load the esperanto or you need to copy the words from Google translate.
6 You can read in Esperanto: the bible, Shakespeare, and a Wikipedia version in Esperanto.
Disadvantages of Esperanto
1 It doesn't sound as good as Italian, or even Spanish.
2 Nor does it key you into any country or culture. However, that is supposed to be an advantage. Esperanto is neutral, not favouring any nationality.
Interlingua
From an article in Wikipedia about the man Alexander Gode (and his influence on Interlingua) I extracted this essential information which sums up Interlingua.
Interlingua flag in Wikipedia. Photo by Architengi, public domain.
Interlingua
I have copied from Wikipedia but made changes for clarity.
Grammar
Interlingua, like English, has a definite article and an indefinite article. The definite article (the) is li, and the indefinite (equivalent to English a, an) is un.
The plural of a noun is made by adding -s after a vowel, or -es after most consonants.[89]
To avoid pronunciation and stress changes, words ending in -c, -g, and -m only add an -s:
For example:
un libre, du libres,
un angul, tri angules,
li tric, li trics, li plug, li plugs, li album, pluri albums, li tram, du trams.
The plural of a noun is made by adding -s after a vowel, or -es after most consonants.[89]
To avoid pronunciation and stress changes, words ending in -c, -g, and -m only add an -s:
For example:
un libre, du libres,
un angul, tri angules,
li tric, li trics, li plug, li plugs, li album, pluri albums, li tram, du trams.
Personal pronouns
Interlingua has two forms for the personal pronouns: one for the subject form (nominative), and another for the object form (accusative or dative). In short, the personal pronouns in the subject form are:
| Singular | Plural | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| first | second | third | first | second | third | |||
| English | I | you | he | she | it | we | you | they |
| Occidental | yo | tu | il | ella | it | noi | vu | ili (illos, ellas) |
From a traveller's point of view, it is easier to learn Interlingua, which is my favourite in theory, but more people speak Esperanto, so if you want to correspond on Facebook and visit Esperanto speakers or go to an Esperanto conference, or teach a language to pupils who are not academic or are afraid of trying to learn a language, Esperanto is a good choice. That's why I am learning Eperanto.
Ido
Ido Flag. From Wikipedia
This post is now so long I shall stop here. I hope I have interested you and clarified how easy or difficult it might be to learn these languages. Even if you don't have the time and inclination right now, you might be interested to visit some places connected with these languages and their inventors and speakers.
Esperanto Museum, Palais Mollard, Vienna, Austria
Places to VisitZamenof's grave, Jewish cemetery, Warsaw, Poland.
Zamenhof Museum, Poland.
Esperanto Museum, Vienna, Austria.
Bust of Zamenhof, Esperanto Park, Vienna, Austria.
Esperanto club meetings, Reading, England. (Check dates of meetings online and follow up by phone.)
Esperanto annual conference (locations vary).
Homestays with Esperanto speakers. (Get directory.)
Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._L._Zamenhof
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_between_Esperanto_and_Interlingua
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_between_Esperanto_and_Ido
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_between_Ido_and_Interlingua
readingmuseum.org.uk
http://www.bayeuxtapestry.org.uk
Learn Esperanto:
duolingo.com (Lots of Languages.)
Lernu.net (Devoted to Esperanto. Looks like lernu is an Esperanto word, simple spelling. Read more on the lernu.net website.)
Travel Information
Trains run from Paddington, London, to Reading.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_Town_Hall
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_Museum
visitbritain.com
visitengland.com
visitlondon.com
https://www.gwr.com/plan-journey/stations-and-routes/london-to-reading
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2018/05/frank-talk-about-learning-esperanto-if.html
https://events.duolingo.com/u/mw3qbu/ Contact Rico, the ambassador.
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/03/where-to-see-statues-of-zamenhof.html
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, speaker, teacher of English and other languages. If you would like a talk or workshop on Esperanto and learning languages, why you should be bilingual, or any other travel subject, for entertainment, after dinner, or business, please contact me.
I have several posts on Esperanto.
Please share links to your favourite posts.
Esperanto works I’ve used it in speech and writing - and sung in it - in about twenty countries over recent years.
ReplyDeleteI am one of many people who for decades have argued quietly that institutional support for Esperanto as a lingua franca could bring many benefits to the world. Having one language for us all does not mean the loss of other languages or of the world’s cultural diversity. We can make use of Esperanto as an aŭiliary language, as millions of ordinary people across the globe have already done.
Indeed, the language has some remarkable practical benefits. Personally, I’ve made friends around the world through countries. In the past few years I have had guided tours of Berlin and Milan and Douala in Cameroon in the planned language. I have discussed philosophy with a Slovene poet, humour on television with a Bulgarian TV producer. I’ve discussed what life was like in East Berlin before the wall came down, how to cook perfect spaghetti, the advantages and disadvantages of monarchy, and so on. Thanks to Esperanto I’ve met all kinds of people I would never have been able to communicate with otherwise. Earlier this year I was in Japan. On five of my seven days there I used nothing but Esperanto.
Esperanto may not be perfect, but I've used it successfully in Africa, South America, Asia and Europe, and it does the job.