Esperanto is an 'artificial' language which was created to enable and encourage communication between people from different countries and cultures. It was created in 1887 by Dr. L.L. Zamenhof (1859-1917) and published under the pseudonym "Dr. Esperanto" - meaning 'one who hopes' - and the name was adopted as the name of the language itself. Zamenhof's Fundamento de Esperanto, published in 1905, sets out the basic principles of the language.

Esperanto is considerably easier to learn than national languages. By design it is far simpler and more regular. Also, unlike national languages, Esperanto allows communication on an equal footing between all people, since no one has the usual cultural advantage favouring a native speaker.

Esperanto's purpose is not to replace a country's natural language, but rather to act as a supplement, a universal second language, for all countries. Esperanto is designed to be a neutral language to allow people from different countries to converse when neither speaks the other's native language. It is also hoped that, as a result, Esperanto would also protect minority languages, allowing them to survive alongside Esperanto, rather than being replaced by one of the more dominant 'world' languages such as English, Spanish and French.

Esperanto is probably the most successful artificial language, with estimates of the number of speakers throughout the world ranging from 100,000 to eight million. (The only comprehensive study of the language's use puts the figure at around two million). The Universala Esperanto-Asocio was founded in 1908 and has members in 83 countries and there are 50 national Esperanto associations. There is an annual World Esperanto Congress. Over 100 periodicals are published in Esperanto, and more than 30,000 books have been published in Esperanto, including a couple of Harry Harrison's.

Esperanto is relatively easy for European to learn, as most of its words are derived from roots commonly found in European languages, particularly those derived from Latin - Italian, Spanish, French etc. Approximately 75% of Esperanto's vocabulary comes from these languages, 20% comes from Germanic languages (including German and English), and the rest mainly from Slavic languages (Russian and Polish) and Greek (mostly scientific terms). Wherever possible the words were chosen to be familiar to as many people in the world as possible. Some estimates have it that Esperanto is five times easier for an English speaker to learn than French or Spanish.

It is also said that having learned Esperanto, it is then easier to learn other foreign languages.

Words in Esperanto are pronounced phonetically, being spelt as they are pronounced - There are no "silent" letters or exceptions - and grammar is simple and regular.

Nouns end in -o, eg. 'amiko,' which means friend. Nouns have no gender.

Plurals are indicated by -oj (pronounced oy), eg. amikoj, meaning friends.

Adjectives end in -a, eg 'bona amiko,' which means good friend.

There is only one definite article, la, and no indefinite article, eg. la amiko, the friend.

There is only one verb conjugation, all plurals are formed the same way, and a prefix can be added to any word to change it to its opposite (good/bad, rich/poor, right/wrong). This means that after a relatively short period, students can conjugate any verb in any tense. This is alone makes learning Esperanto much easier than most national languages.

Esperanto's flexible word-order allows speakers of different national languages to use the structures with which they are most familiar and yet still speak perfectly intelligible and grammatically correct Esperanto. This aspect of the language also makes it useful in translating to and from different languages.

There are a number of books and online courses for learning Esperanto, as well as correspondence courses in most countries. See the links below, which refer to sites giving details of all of these resources.

In addition to continuing his medical career, Zamenhof worked to develop Esperanto and tested it translating a large number of works, including the Old Testament, Hamlet, Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales, and plays of Molière, Goethe, and Nikolay Gogol. His Fundamento de Esperanto (1905; Basis of Esperanto) established the principles of the language.

Here are some of the many different ways people use Esperanto:

Esperanto is an ideal second language. Many people want to learn another language, but which to choose? Esperanto is a language which is spoken in many different countries and is easier to learn than almost any national language. It is also a useful introduction to learning languages, and a knowledge of Esperanto can help people learn other languages more quickly.

Travel. If you travel to almost any country in the world, you will be able to find Esperanto speakers. Many of these people feel passionately about the language, and as a result automatically regard other speakers from other nations as friends. There are lists of Esperanto speakers willing to host other Esperantists in their own house or apartment for free.

Correspondence. Even if you don't travel, you can still communicate with other Esperanto speakers across the world. And because the language is so widely spoken, you don't have to learn a dozen different languages to communicate with people in a dozen different countries.

Meeting people from other countries, especially at conventions, or when Esperanto speakers from other countries come visiting. (It's also a good way to meet interesting people from your own country!)

Literature. Many of the world's masterpieces have been translated to Esperanto. Many works have been translated to Esperanto which are not available in one's own language. There is also a growing body of original literature written in Esperanto.

Hobbies, especially collecting stamps or postcards, or discussing any subject with people in other countries.

Isn't English already the 'universal language' which is spoken world-wide already?

It is difficult to know just how many people actually speak English today, and even more difficult to judge how many of those speak it in such a way as to simply get by as a tourist rather than participate in conversations on complex topics. A best guess is that 10% of the world's population speaks English, which means - obviously - that 90% of the population doesn't.

Esperanto isn't a real language

How do you define 'real'? Esperanto has been used in almost every conceivable circumstance - conversation, correspondence, publishing, conferences etc. - for over 100 years.

Won't Esperanto eventually break up into dialects?

Esperanto is intended to be a second language, so it remains relatively uncorrupted, since people primarily create slang, idioms, etc., in their native language. Also, Esperanto is intended for cross-cultural use, therefore use of too many colloquialisms, etc., jeopardises your chances of being understood. This acts as a stabilising influence on the language.

Joseph Voros: "The argument seems to always come down to the difference between agglutination and separate roots. Or 'Eastern' and 'Western' style languages, broadly speaking (I know it's an over-simplification). Some people think every concept needs its own root, others are happy to begin with some basic set and modify. Two incompatible systems of thinking.

"I consider Esperanto to be a good compromise between 'Western' root-based thinking and 'Eastern' agglutinative thinking (again, very roughly speaking). Having a Hungarian background, I delight in the simple elegance of Esperanto word-building."

Sylvan Zaft: "The other night I was having dinner here in the Detroit area with Koralo Chen, an Esperanto speaker from China whose home is very close to Hong Kong. I presented this objection to him. Koralo Chen replied that he had often heard this objection but that it made little sense to him. In his part of the world the major languages are completely unlike each other. Knowing Chinese doesn't help with learning how to speak Korean or Japanese, for instance.

"I can see why this objection makes good theoretical sense to some Westerners, but it makes no sense at all to those Chinese who, like Koralo Chen, need not a theoretically perfect but very practical language to learn for international communication."

"Mi amas vin."

There are several WWW sites with lists of ways to say "I love you" in various languages. Try:

http://www.datehookup.com/content-i-love-you.htm

http://personal.inet.fi/koti/krista.hauhio/feelings.htm

www.esperanto.net
A multi-lingual site offering information in 41 languages. Also contains the Virtual Esperanto Library, with a selection of online documents in Esperanto.

www.webcom.com
Maintained by Don Harlow, this site provides information - and links to information - including Esperanto organisations, periodicals, radio, libraries, etc., as well as links to a huge collection of online literature written in, or translated into, Esperanto. Also has links to online courses for speakers of a number of languages who wish to learn Esperanto. If you're looking for something related to Esperanto, this is possibly the best place to start.