Why Learn The Easiest Language, Esperanto, How And Where To Speak It

Esperanto Flag

Why learn a language with no country? Because it's the easiest language to learn and all speakers are equal. It was started years ago but with the internet it has a chance to take off, as was originally intended.

" Esperanto has become a living language." says a supporter.

How Many Speak It?

Esperanto is in the top 100 languages, out of 6,800 languages worldwide, according to the CIA factbook. 

It is the 17th most used language in Wikipedia, and in use by 

Skype, 

Firefox and 

Facebook.

Wikipedia itself is also in an Esperanto version. 

(Find the languages of Wikipedia from the column on the left of a Wikipedia page.)

Who Are The Speakers of Esperanto?

Native Esperanto speakers, (people who have used the language from birth), include:  

1 George Soros, 

2 World Chess Champion Susan Polger, 

3 Ulrich Brandenberg the new German Ambassador to NATO and 

4 Nobel Laureate Daniel Bovet.

Learning Esperanto

I started learning Esperanto with a paperback book, and bought an Esperanto dictionary.

I got along faster with the internet on duolingo.

Useful Information from Wikipedia

Science

Hungarian astronaut Bertalan Farkas, the first Esperantist in space

In 1921 the French Academy of Sciences recommended using Esperanto for international scientific communication.^[135] A few scientists and mathematicians, such as Maurice Fréchet (mathematics), John C. Wells (linguistics), Helmar Frank (pedagogy and cybernetics), and Nobel laureate Reinhard Selten (economics) have published part of their work in Esperanto. Frank and Selten were among the founders of the International Academy of Sciences in San Marino, sometimes called the "Esperanto University", where Esperanto is the primary language of teaching and administration.

A message in Esperanto was recorded and included in Voyager 1's Golden Record.

English	Esperanto	IPA
Hello	Saluton	[sa.ˈlu.ton]
Yes	Jes	[ˈjes]
No	Ne	[ˈne]
Good morning	Bonan matenon	[ˈbo.nan ma.ˈte.non]
Good evening	Bonan vesperon	[ˈbo.nan ves.ˈpe.ron]
Good night	Bonan nokton	[ˈbo.nan ˈnok.ton]
Goodbye	Ĝis (la) revido	[ˈdʒis (la) re.ˈvi.do]
What is your name?	Kio estas via nomo? Kiel vi nomiĝas?	[ˈki.o ˌes.tas ˌvi.a ˈno.mo] [ˈki.εl vi nɔ.ˈmi.dʒas]
My name is Marco.	Mia nomo estas Marko	[ˌmi.a ˈno.mo ˌes.tas ˈmar.ko]
How are you?	Kiel vi fartas?	[ˈki.el vi ˈfar.tas]
I am well.	Mi fartas bone	[mi ˈfar.tas ˈbo.ne]
Do you speak Esperanto?	Ĉu vi parolas Esperanton?	[ˈtʃu vi pa.ˈro.las ˌes.pe.ˈran.ton]
I don't understand you	Mi ne komprenas vin	[mi ˌne kom.ˈpre.nas ˌvin]
All right	Bone / En ordo	[ˈbo.ne] / [en ˈor.do]
Okay
Thank you	Dankon	[ˈdan.kon]
You're welcome	Ne dankinde	[ˌne.dan.ˈkin.de]
Please	Bonvolu / Mi petas	[bon.ˈvo.lu] / [mi ˈpε.tas]
Forgive me/Excuse me	Pardonu min	[par.ˈdo.nu ˈmin]
Bless you!	Sanon!	[ˈsa.non]
Congratulations	Gratulon	[ɡra.ˈtu.lon]
I love you	Mi amas vin	[mi ˈa.mas ˌvin]
One beer, please	Unu bieron, mi petas	[ˈu.nu bi.ˈe.ron, mi ˈpe.tas]
Where is the toilet?	Kie estas la necesejo?	[ˈki.e ˈes.tas ˈla ˌne.tse.ˈse.jo]
What is that?	Kio estas tio?	[ˈki.o ˌes.tas ˈti.o]
That is a dog	Tio estas hundo	[ˈti.o ˌes.tas ˈhun.do]
We will love!	Ni amos!	[ni ˈa.mos]
Peace!	Pacon!	[ˈpa.tson]
I am a beginner in Esperanto.	Mi estas komencanto de Esperanto	[mi ˈes.tas ˌko.men.ˈtsan.to de ˌes.pe.ˈran.to]

Unfortunately 'I want wine' and I love wine 'I love you' sound similar.

mi amas vin - I love you
Mi amas vinon - I love wine
Mi volas vinon - I want wine

You could be saying you love wine and find yourself having an unexpected romance!

Where can you speak Esperanto?
The next Esperanto Conference is 1-8 August 2020 in Montreal.
The next one in Australia is in January 2021.
The universal congress in 2021 will be in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

USEFUL WEBSITES
https://www.theodysseyonline.com/5-reasons-learn-esperanto

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto

duolingo.com

https://esperanto.net/en/friends-of-esperanto/

Using Esperanto

https://esperanto.net/en/friends-of-esperanto/

Further information can be seen at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8837438938991452670 

A glimpse of the language can be seen at http://www.lernu.net

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto

I joined the Facebook polyglots page and I get sent lots of interesting discussions and links.
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/11/polyglots-multilingual-expo-and.html

If you want to read Shakespeare's Hamlet in Esperanto:
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Esperanto_%28Bookshelf%29



Meetings
Uk in the city of Reading.
Update in August 2020. Because of Covid19, the Esperanto group in Reading is now meeting online. 

Conferences (Kongreso for congress in Esperanto)
Australia
http://aea.esperanto.org.au/congress/
Interntional
https://uea.org/kongresoj/listo

A museum on made up languages including Esperanto is in Vienna, Austria. See my previous posts on the creator of Esperanto, his grave, and museums connected with him.

About the Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, teaches English and French and several other languages.