Learn Esperanto4 min read

I. A Neutral Constructed Language

A. Neutral

Esperanto is a neutral language in that it does not have any specific ties to a religion, culture, or nation. All other languages such as Japanese, English, Swahili, French, Russian, Hebrew, etc all have national, religious, cultural, political, and/or historical connotations, baggage, anti/pro factions associated with them.

Americans want English as the lingua franca, the Japanese want Japanese, the Russians, want Russian, and many will oppose a language other than their native language simply because it is not their language or because there is national (French), historical (German), or political (English) problem from some countries which would keep it from being accepted.

French was the international language prior to World War II for a long time and then English took over after showing its economic and political dominance throughout that war. This change is imminent especially as world’s political and economic landscape changes. What will be the next International Language? Whose will it be?

B. Constructed Language

Some would say that the fact that Esperanto is a constructed language is a disadvantage, but I will agrue that this is a distinct advantage when applied to an international and non-native audience. The native languages that most people speak have naturally and organically evolved much to the chagrin and frustration to a person who is trying to pick them up as second languages. If you try to pick up a second language you have to deal with many gramattical inconsistencies inherent in organically grown languages, slang, as well as colloquial usage and pronuncuation. Esperanto spares you pretty much all of this, because it is a non-organic constructed language built with the intent to be easy to learn and consistent.

In English we have a few ways that have oprganically grown for us to make the ‘o’ sound as in the following situations: to, too, beautiful, few, and sue. How does anyone learn English? Esperanto is phonetic. The letters make one sound and one sound only each and every time. There are not tricky letter combinations that make differing sounds such as th, ch, qu and so on.

II. Preface – Esperanto Primer

First thing I want you to do is to overload yourself on an Esperanto Primer (or 3) to get an overdose intro into Esperanto. I do not expect you to remember most of this. I just want you to get exposure to the overarching concepts found in Esperanto so you will have some perspective in how things fit together in the big picture of the language. If you really, really need to concentrate on something while taking a look at this then concentrate on the alphabet, since that will be the first lesson.

You may want to print out the Primer(s) so you have it as a reference document as you go through these exercises. It may come in handy to refresh your memory to give you an idea where the lesson is going or how it fits into the rest of the language. If that is not enough check out my Esperanto Links for more than you can handle.

III. Esperanto Basics

Chapter 1 – Esperanto Basics (Part I)

In Chapter 1 we will cover:

1. The Esperanto Alphabet
2. Word Basics (Accent, Nouns, Verbs, and Tool Words)
3. Sentence Formation
4. Chapter Review

Chapter 2 – Esperanto Basics (Part II)

In Chapter 2 we will cover Pronouns and Gender Specificity in nouns, and increasing your basic verb vocabulary.

1. Nouns (more nouns + Pronouns, Possesives and Gender Specificity)
2. Verbs (more verbs + Use of Infinitive Verbs too)
3. Adjectives
4. Chapter Review

Chapter 3  – Esperanto Basics (Part III)

In Chapter 3 we will cover Adjectives, Adverbs, and increase your working vocabulary.

1. Adverbs
2. Tool Words (Questions and Prefixes and Suffixes)
3. Chapter Review

Testing Your Knowledge of Esperanto Basics

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IV. Expand Your Basics

Chapter 4 – Expand Your Basics (Part I)

In Chapter 4 we will cover word modifiers (prefixes/suffixes) as well as the workhorse words such as date/time counting and so on to make sure you have the basic tools for conversation.

1. Participles
2. ToolWords
3. Chapter Review

Chapter 5 – Expand Your Basics (Part II)

In Chapter 5 we will cover prepositions and some of the workhorse words such as date/time counting and so on to make sure you have the basic tools for conversation.

1. Prepositions
2. Tool Words
3. Chapter Review

Chapter 6  – Expand Your Basics (Part III)

In Chapter 6 we will cover word correlatives as well as some of the workhorse words such as date/time counting and so on to make sure you have the basic tools for conversation.

1. Correlatives
2. Tool Words
3. Chapter Review

Testing Your Knowledge of Your Expanded Basics

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Building Blocks to Conversational Language

Chapter 7 – BBtCL (Part I)

Common Phrases