Do you know Esperanto, the universal language?

Question

Since more than 100 years the language of friendship between the peoples.

Answer 1

Esperanto is an neutral, logical, international language that is now enjoying a renassaince, thanks in part to the Internet and to the trend toward globalized societies. Its time has finally come.
No longer the hobby of a few enthusiasts with a passion for languages, Esperanto has proven to be a valuable tool in many fields, including science and technology.
As a professional translator, I use Esperanto as a bridge between unusual language pairs.
I am also the (paid) coordinator of an Esperanto Kids Club in California. Kids love its logical structure!
As you can see, my small time investment to learn it last year is paying handsome dividends. Plus, I have friends around the world who are as welcome in my home as I am in theirs!
Amike Via,
Mar Kardenas
www.grupoamikema.org

Answer 2

I started learning it a few months ago, now I know enough to have a basic conversation in it, and I understand most of it when written.

It is a great idea and the reasons have been mentioned time and time again, they are all over the web on any Esperanto website, and I agree with them. Basically, it would save everybody time and money because it's so easy and it would bring fairness to international communication, because language is power and communicating in a language that is native to some and not to others is pretty unfair.

As we can see in the above answers, some people just say it's crap, some others say "it's a good idea but it will never work". I disagree with both opinions. I think the 100 years of relative failure (if you want to look at it that way) of Esperanto prove nothing about its future possibilities. It is very young if compared to the national languages, and if you think about it communication has only become global for the average person little more than a decade ago. It's true english seems to be taking over, but I don't think it means it won't change. As I just said, language is power. English is on top because the US and the UK are the most powerful nations in the world and rule entertainment and science all over the planet. In the XIX century it was french, in eastern Europe, just 20 years ago, it was german and russian. Language is power. So what if the power scale changes? Every empire in history has fallen, why should we think the current situation is eternal? Plus, the world is less and less stable everyday, who knows if everything will change in an instant because of a great political leader, or oil, or a stockmarket crash, or a scientific breakthrough? And everytime power changes, the dominant language, if it's a national language, will change too... It will be a mess. I really think there will come a time, maybe sooner than we think, maybe not, when it will be necessary to determine a language for international communication.

And yes, a great part of our generation speaks english already, but from there to the governments actually agreeing to consider english the one and only international language is a long way. Everybody wants to defend their own. Because of that, the European Union has more than twenty official languages - every document has to be writen in each of them. Imagine how much they would save if there was an international language. I think there will be one. For the sake of justice and neutrality, I hope and believe it won't be a national language.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the english language, as you can see I learned it and use it a lot although it's not my native language. I love learning foreign languages, it's a great way to get to know new cultures. But that doesn't stop me from thinking there should be a neutral language in which I could talk, at the same level, to anyone in the world. For example, every people has its own sign language, but there is an international sign language, used at international meetings. Why can't the same happen with spoken languages? It's easier, cheaper and above all it's the only way international communication can be fair.

Answer 3

Which would be great if anyone actually spoke it. You have to wonder why they based so much of it on European languages. Since the idea was to create a simple language, you'd think they would have looked at languages like Indonesian, which had a similar purpose, but developed into a complex language once people really had to use it to communicate and so modified it so it would work better. Such would have bee nthe fate of Esperanto if anyone had taken it seriously.

And as you can see from this website, it is English that is the universal language. Nice idea, Esperanto, though.

Answer 4

I don't think a language spoken by so few people can be called a universal language. The most universal language nowadays is English and this is the language I use to communicate with people from different countries. I don't say this because I am an arrogant American, English is not even my native language, but it's very useful for international communication nowadays.

Answer 5

Yes, I speak Esperanto. What would you like to know?

Answer 6

I do have Esperanto dictionary... but i still didn't try to learn...
do you need any help about esperanto?

Answer 7

First, sorry but it's not universal as only a few people learn that language.

Second, it's not a universal language but a European-based one: ask a Japanese or a Chinese or an Indian if he finds it THAT easy to learn...!

Answer 8

Mi ne nur scias pri Esperanto. Mi uzas ĝin!
Ne interesas al mi se kelkaj homoj pensas, ke neniu uzas Esperanton. Mi scias, ke tio ne estas vera.

Answer 9

i learned it about two years ago but there was nobody to practice it with, so i promptly forgot most of it

Answer 10

I don't know yet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto#History