Esperanto4 min read

About Me

This is all written from the standpoint of an 35 year old married native-born American male who was a member of the military. I have traveled the world while in and out of the military, and I have family in Belarus since my wife is Belarussian. I speak some Russian (enough to know when people are talking about me =) ) as well as a little (very little) French and Spanish. I support globalization, progressive social values, and world government. You can read more about me in the About Me section of this site.

I have met people all over the world, most of which I could not communicate with because I did not know their language. This has saddened me because there are so many wonderful people all around the world. I am fortunate that my wife and our mutual friends all learned English otherwise I would never had the chance to get to know and fall in love with her, or to get to know them. An international language is very important to bring the world together, and to facilitate understanding, peace, and business.

What is Esperanto?

Esperanto is a language that was constructed and then presented by a Polish/Jewish optometrist named Dr. L.L. Zamenhof (see Lernu’s Zamenhof/Esperanto profile or Zamenhof and the Shadow People or Mock Interview with LL Zamenhoff  @YouTube or this You Tube video with 4 minutes Zamenhoff’s recorded voice starting at about 2:50) in 1887 for the specific purpose of becoming the world’s International Auxiliary Language (IAL) or, more simply, the international language. Dr. Zamenhof intended for the peoples of the world to learn their native tongue and then learn Esperanto as a method of conversing with those who do not speak their native tongue – a primary secondary-language if you will. It is current spoken by over 2 million speakers world wide putting it on par with the Latvian language.

Esperanto finds its roots in words and grammatical structure in many European as well as Asian languages such as English, Italian, and German, Chinese, Turkish, and Greek. (see Claude Piron’s Esperanto, a western language?” and “Esperanto: European or Asiatic“, or Wikipedia’s Esperanto Entymology for more info). It was created to be simple to learn, phonetic (words can be pronounced directly by looking at the letters), and consistent in sentence structure and word formation. It has almost no exceptions to rules or inconsistencies that makes learning other national languages such as English and Russian difficult. Since Esperanto is a constructed language this it also means it lacks national and/or cultural ties that hinders the more permanent adoption of national languages as an agreed upon and permanent lingua franca for the world.

Why Should I Care? Make your case, freak!

For the average American who has never traveled more than 100 miles from their homes, have never really spoken to a foreigner, or tried to learn a foreign language, much of this will be like ‘so what‘ to you. I hope that my writings here will give you more insight and spur you into action to take up the language and the cause. For the rest of you who understand that globalization is an important force in the world or that spending time on the internet conversing with people in other countries, or who would like to,  you will see how this can affect you in this world which is growing smaller and smaller by the day.

1. The Need for an Agreed Upon International Auxiliary Language?
2. Why Not English?
3. Why Epseranto?
4. Learn Esperanto
5. Esperanto Quotes and Recognition
6. Related Links