UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE

Esperanto is a constructed international auxiliary language that was invented by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887. He designed it to facilitate international and inter-ethnic communication. He thought it would be a great tool for peace. Since its invention, Esperanto has had some success and its popularity has grown and receded from time to time. However, Esperantists, speakers of Esperanto, were among the targets of the Holocaust, because Hitler had claimed the language was a Jewish conspiracy in his book, Mein Kampf. Tragically these victims included L. L. Zamenhoff's own children, Zophia, Lidia, and Adam Zamenhof. Considering the language a threat to the point of imprisoning and killing the speakers is also an implicit acknowledgment that Esperanto is powerful. Hitler showed that Esperanto has the potential to change the world in a way that Fascists are afraid of. A world that is not amenable to fascism is a better world, and I agree that Esperanto still has that potential.

In the absence of a universal translator, Esperanto remains one of our greatest potential tools for fostering international communication and cooperation. English is considered the international language of business and often it can be used as an auxiliary language when two people don't know each other's native languages but both know English. However, English is not culturally neutral and using it as an international auxiliary language elevates English speaking nations in a perceived hierarchy. It also is a holdover from the long history of British imperialism. Even with dramatic advancement in automated translations of text, audio, and video, these technologies create a barrier between speakers. An auxiliary language allows us to talk face to face, with our real voices, with even standing, together.

If you would like to learn Esperanto there are many resources available now through the internet. Duolingo includes a course on Esperanto. Lernu is a website dedicated to teaching Esperanto and includes leveled reading materials and a forum to talk with other Esperantists. Older resources have also been digitized and are available for study. At Project Gutenberg you can find A Complete Grammar of Esperanto by Ivy Kellerman Reed. On librivox, you can listen to audio lessons from The Esperanto Teacher. And at the internet archive they have scanned Zamenhofs Fundamento de Esperanto. There is even an esperanto wikipedia, Vikipedio, with over 300,000 articles.

It has been estimated that a new speaker can learn the language to a functional level with a few months of consistent practice. Yet, Esperanto education can be further enhanced. The selection of Esperanto learning resources is relatively limited. Consider all of the printed and digital resources for English language education from preschool through high school. There is space for picture books, alphabet books, grammar books, more online exercises, worksheets, games, and leveled readers for teaching Esperanto to all ages. In English, one of the best language instructional approaches is the Orton Gillingham system. It is commonly used with students with language based learning disabilities but its evidence based methods can improve english learning for all students. I think an Orton Gilligham approach to Esperanto education could be even faster and more effective than current systems.

Esperanto is like a tiny acorn. With the right conditions it holds the potential for enormous and rapid growth. Again, it has been estimated that Esperanto requires on average a few months to learn to a functional level. Imagine if its popularity were to go viral such that every new learner inspires two more learners. Even with a six month delay for learning, and imagining it starting from 1 person, rather than the current estimate of 30,000 global esperantists, Esperanto could permeate the world within 17 years. All that it would take is for people to believe in Zamenhof's vision and get inspired.

Zamenhof didn't actually call his language Esperanto originally. He simply called it the international language. The name of the language comes from the pen name that Zamenhof used, Dr. Esperanto. It translates as “one who hopes.” I hope that I can inspire at least two people to learn the international language.