Esperanto was created by Zamenhof who lived in Bialystock, then in Russia, now in Poland. His city had different races and religions and they could not talk to each other. He created a simple language, with no word 'a' and a word the whcih remained constant not change case, unlike French. No irregular verbs. He made it easier to learn. It was neutral as it did not belong to any country. That is both its advantage and its disadvantage.
The fore-runner of the UN, the League of Nations, considered making it a universal language. Unfortunately, nationalists wanted their own country's language to be predominant. First the French opposed it. Then the Nazis who wanted German to dominate, and were suspicious of a new language linking up other nations, in WWII.
The name Esperanto comes from the word for I hope. Similar to Latin and Italian. It wasn't the word which Zamerhof chose but it quickly caught on and took over and finally got voted in.
Esperanto and Interlingo
Esperanto is not the only artifical language. I prefer Interlinguo which instead of following all the simple rules, take a word which is the same in several languages, which is how many of us pick up vocabulary in foreign countries, staring with common words such as hotel and taxi and computer.
Why Learn Esperanto
I did a basic course in German on Interlingua, then tried Spanish.
I had tried Esperanto years ago, with a book and a correspondence course. I made a lot of mistakes and was disheartened at not getting 100%.
The internet and learning online has changed everything. The great thing about Duolingo is that you get marked straight away and just keep working on a word or phrase or sentence it until you get the lesson right.
Nobody knows you got a wrong answer. Whether it take you five minutes to do the next lesson or fifteen is your concern. If you are travelling on a train it doesn't matter and fills in the time.
Recently, I did a bsic course in German on Interlingua, then tried Spanish, which is easier, then switched to Italian, ready for a trip to Italy. I thought I would try the Greek, Russian and Hebrew alphabets. Many famous people, especially writers, years ago, seemed able to grasp all these languages.
Since I live part of the year in Asia, it seemed a good time to learn an Asian language
I was making slow progress with Russian, slow progress Mandarin and zero progress with Korean which uses a different alphabet. I decided to learn Esperanto so I could at least make daily progress in a language, to keep up the habit, then go back to Spanish or Italian and Mandarin.
Meanwhile, on the polyglot page on Facebook every now and then somebody asks a question about Esperanto and I dip back into the history and re-discover the places connected with visionary Zamenhof. The travel spots to visit connected with the history of Esperanto are in Austria and Poland:
I wondered, which should I list first, Warsaw, Vienna or Bialystock?
POLAND
1 The museum where Zamenhof lived in Bialystock, now in Poland. The biggest site connected with Zamenof and Esperanto.
2 His grave in the Jewish cemetery in Warsaw, Poland. After doing the city tour passing all the Jewish monuments on day one, on day two I took a Jewish tour and found I was the only person on it. In mid winter I had accompanied family to a business meeting. I saw Zamenhof's grave buried deep in snow. A small site, but Warsaw is a place more people are likely to visit.
3 His statue is in two more coutnries.
AUSTRIA
4 The museum on constructed languages in Vienna, Austria.
Esperanto and other languages are featured.
Esperanto Flag
The esperanto flag is green with a five pointed green star on a white square at the top on the side of the pole.
To find out about past and present and future meetings with Esperanto speakers:
Useful Websites
INTERNET
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/duolingo.esperanto.learners/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/EsperantoLanguage/
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/05/which-languages-are-easiest-to-learn.html
UK
https://www.meetup.com/en-AU/Reading-Esperanto-Meetup/
USA
https://www.duolingo.com/course/eo/en/Learn-Esperanto
POLAND
http://www.centrumzamenhofa.pl/
WORLDWIDE
Stay for up to three nights free with Esperanto speakers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasporta_Servo
Getting there
Ryanair is a cheap way to fly around Europe.
Author
Angela Lansbury
Please share links to your favourite posts.
The fore-runner of the UN, the League of Nations, considered making it a universal language. Unfortunately, nationalists wanted their own country's language to be predominant. First the French opposed it. Then the Nazis who wanted German to dominate, and were suspicious of a new language linking up other nations, in WWII.
The name Esperanto comes from the word for I hope. Similar to Latin and Italian. It wasn't the word which Zamerhof chose but it quickly caught on and took over and finally got voted in.
Esperanto and Interlingo
Esperanto is not the only artifical language. I prefer Interlinguo which instead of following all the simple rules, take a word which is the same in several languages, which is how many of us pick up vocabulary in foreign countries, staring with common words such as hotel and taxi and computer.
Why Learn Esperanto
I did a basic course in German on Interlingua, then tried Spanish.
I had tried Esperanto years ago, with a book and a correspondence course. I made a lot of mistakes and was disheartened at not getting 100%.
The internet and learning online has changed everything. The great thing about Duolingo is that you get marked straight away and just keep working on a word or phrase or sentence it until you get the lesson right.
Nobody knows you got a wrong answer. Whether it take you five minutes to do the next lesson or fifteen is your concern. If you are travelling on a train it doesn't matter and fills in the time.
Recently, I did a bsic course in German on Interlingua, then tried Spanish, which is easier, then switched to Italian, ready for a trip to Italy. I thought I would try the Greek, Russian and Hebrew alphabets. Many famous people, especially writers, years ago, seemed able to grasp all these languages.
Since I live part of the year in Asia, it seemed a good time to learn an Asian language
I was making slow progress with Russian, slow progress Mandarin and zero progress with Korean which uses a different alphabet. I decided to learn Esperanto so I could at least make daily progress in a language, to keep up the habit, then go back to Spanish or Italian and Mandarin.
Meanwhile, on the polyglot page on Facebook every now and then somebody asks a question about Esperanto and I dip back into the history and re-discover the places connected with visionary Zamenhof. The travel spots to visit connected with the history of Esperanto are in Austria and Poland:
I wondered, which should I list first, Warsaw, Vienna or Bialystock?
POLAND
1 The museum where Zamenhof lived in Bialystock, now in Poland. The biggest site connected with Zamenof and Esperanto.
2 His grave in the Jewish cemetery in Warsaw, Poland. After doing the city tour passing all the Jewish monuments on day one, on day two I took a Jewish tour and found I was the only person on it. In mid winter I had accompanied family to a business meeting. I saw Zamenhof's grave buried deep in snow. A small site, but Warsaw is a place more people are likely to visit.
3 His statue is in two more coutnries.
AUSTRIA
4 The museum on constructed languages in Vienna, Austria.
Esperanto Flag
The esperanto flag is green with a five pointed green star on a white square at the top on the side of the pole.
To find out about past and present and future meetings with Esperanto speakers:
Useful Websites
INTERNET
https://www.facebook.com/groups/duolingo.esperanto.learners/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/EsperantoLanguage/
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/05/which-languages-are-easiest-to-learn.html
UK
https://www.meetup.com/en-AU/Reading-Esperanto-Meetup/
USA
https://www.duolingo.com/course/eo/en/Learn-Esperanto
POLAND
http://www.centrumzamenhofa.pl/
WORLDWIDE
Stay for up to three nights free with Esperanto speakers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasporta_Servo
Getting there
Ryanair is a cheap way to fly around Europe.
Author
Angela Lansbury
Please share links to your favourite posts.
No comments:
Post a Comment