Introduction to Esperanto

• Hosts Josh and Chuck discuss Esperanto, a constructed language (con lang)
• Esperanto means "one who hopes" - named after creator's pen name "Dr. Esperanto"
• About 1,000 native speakers worldwide where Esperanto was their first language
• Notable speakers include George Soros (native speaker), Tolstoy, JRR Tolkien, Stalin, and Ben Bowling from "Stuff They Don't Want You to Know"
• Esperanto community described as inclusive, intelligent, curious, witty, and kind online

History of Constructed Languages

• 19th century saw surge in constructed languages - over 100 created that century
• Volapük preceded Esperanto, created by German priest Jan Schleyer who claimed God told him to create it
• Volapük had international congresses, President Grover Cleveland's wife named their dog "Volpuke"
• 1889 Volapük conference occurred, but Esperanto (created 1887) eventually supplanted it
• Danish expression "it's pure volapük" means "I don't understand" (like "It's all Greek to me")

Creator: L.L. Zamenhof

• Born Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof, December 15, 1859 in Białystok, Poland
• December 15th is national Zamenhof Day
• Grew up in ethnically diverse, violent environment: 70% Jewish, plus Germans, Russians, Poles
• Witnessed ethnic violence, Jewish pogroms after 1881 assassination of Tsar Alexander II
• Developed belief that language barriers create unnecessary human conflict
• At age 10, wrote play "Tower of Babel: The Białystok Tragedy in Five Acts"
• Polyglot who slept only couple hours per night, used time productively
• Also worked as optometrist

Zamenhof's Motivation

• Initially considered modernizing Yiddish (universal language of Ashkenazi Jews)
• Realized asking people to learn "language of criminals and spies" wouldn't work
• Decided to create universal language from scratch
• Based philosophy on Hillel the Elder's teachings (Golden Rule)
• Called it "Hillelism," later "homaranismo" (humanitarianism)
• Believed common language could remove barriers, reduce conflicts, unite humanity
• Witnessed World War I before death in 1917, contradicting his peace ideals

Language Development and Publication

• Age 19 birthday party: distributed pocket dictionaries and grammar charts to guests
• Called early version "lingvo internacia"
• Composed hymn: "Malamikeco de popoloj fali, fali, fali" (Let hatred of nations fall, fall, fall)
• 1887: self-published 42-page pamphlet "Unua Libro" (First Book)
• Used pen name "Doktoro Esperanto" (Dr. Hopeful)
• People named language "Esperanto" after his pen name, not his intended "lingvo internacia"
• Made language open-source from beginning, unlike Volapük creator's controlling approach

Grammar and Structure Features

• 16 grammatical rules, no exceptions, no irregular verbs
• All nouns end in -o
• All adjectives end in -a
• All adverbs end in -e
• No grammatical gender complications
• Single definite article "la" for everything
• Agglutinative language - words formed by combining shorter root words with affixes

Verb Conjugation System

• Infinitive verbs end in -i (manĝi = to eat)
• Present tense ends in -as (manĝas = eat/eats/eating)
• Past tense ends in -is (manĝis = ate)
• Future tense ends in -os (manĝos = will eat)
• Commands end in -u (manĝu = eat!)
• No variation for person (I, you, he, she, they all use same form)

Word Formation Examples

• Tree: arbo
• Young tree: arbido (suffix -ido means young/small version)
• Forest: arbaro (suffix -aro means group/collection)
• Arboretum: arboreto (suffix -eto means place for cultivation)
• Hospital: malsanulejo (mal=opposite, san=healthy, ul=people, ejo=place)
• Jet lag: horzonmalsano (hor=time, zon=zone, malsano=illness)
• Kitchen: kuirejo (kuiri=to cook, ejo=place for activity)

Learning Efficiency

• Can learn conversational Esperanto in ~40 hours of class time (one week)
• French/German require 100-200 hours for same proficiency level
• 5x easier than French/Spanish for English speakers
• 10x easier than Russian
• 20x easier than Chinese
• 75% of root words from Romance languages, making it familiar to Western learners

Political Opposition and Persecution

• League of Nations proposal to teach Esperanto in schools vetoed by French delegation (claimed French already universal)
• UN proposal rejected by US (claimed English already universal)
• Hitler wrote about Esperanto in Mein Kampf, called it "secret Jewish language"
• Nazis rounded up, jailed, and killed Esperanto speakers
• Zamenhof's three children killed by Nazis in Warsaw Ghetto
• Stalin also persecuted Esperanto speakers, calling it "language of spies"
• Accused of being both communist and capitalist plot simultaneously

Schisms and Competitors

• 1905 first Universal Congress in France
• Ido language split off as "easier version" of Esperanto
• Ido movement eventually faded while Esperanto survived
• Zamenhof nominated 14 times for Nobel Peace Prize, never won

Modern Esperanto Community

• 381,000 people learning on Duolingo (more than Klingon, Navajo, Yiddish)
• Available on learning apps: Lernu!, Duolingo, Babbel
• Active online communities and local clubs
• Annual Universal Congress (2024 in Tanzania)
• Radio Esperanto podcast available
• Passionate but small global community maintains language

Cultural References

• 1965/66 film "Incubus" starring William Shatner entirely in Esperanto
• Poor pronunciation throughout film - no native speakers on set
• Actors learned dialogue in 2 weeks without proper coaching
• Film reviewer called it "foreign film from country that never existed"
• Esperanto flag: green rectangle with white square and green star (Verda Stelo)
• Green became signature color for Esperanto materials and branding